Love smells like gasoline
by writer3098
Summary: She was the new girl in town, they were the two best friends who never fought over girls, why all of a sudden does this, this new girl change all of that, why couldn't they just get themselves together for once
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I own nothing of the following story, the first 14 chapters belong to GreaserGirlie and I have just adopted the story, so I own nothing out of the first 14 chapters. I also want to make a quick thank you to OutsidersGirl1 who helped GreaserGirlie with the story. The OCs Julie and her mother both belong to GreaserGirlie. I hope that if you have read this story before that I do it justice.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, S E Hinton owns all the characters and rights to the outsiders and GreaserGirlie owns Julie and her mother.

This chapter is in 3rd person povJulie and her mom pulled up to their new house at about five o'clock in the evening. Their house wasn't much better than the last one they had. But their last house was gone now; nothing more than a big pile rubble and ash. You see, the reason they had to move was because their house had caught fire when Julie's dad fell asleep with a cigarette in his hand. Julie and her mother had both been out of the house; Julie in school and her mother at work. Unfortunately Julie's father, who was asleep at the time, didn't make it out. That was also part of why they were moving. They didn't want to stay in Tennessee because it reminded them of him. Julie had never had a perfect life, but then again who does? Her family was never rich and she never had the best grades, but she got along okay. She was sixteen and in the middle of her sophomore year in high school. She hated the idea of having to start somewhere new with all new people. And plus, she needed to find a job, but that could wait until some other day. Julie got out of the car and pulled out a box of her stuff. She looked up at her new house and noticed how it was slightly smaller than their old one.

"Everything will be okay, honey," Julie's mother assured her. Julie simply sighed and walked up to the front door and walked in. She thought it smelled weird, but decided not to say anything; things were hard enough for her mother. She walked up to her new room and set the box down. She still needed to get her bed and her dresser into there, which wasn't going to be easy. She walked back downstairs to find her mother leaning on the counter with her head in her hands.

"Mom," Julie called so her mother would look at her. She looked up and immediately started wiping the tears from her face.

"Hi sweetie, let's go get your bed," she said and walked back out to the car. Julie followed her and went outside. She looked across the street and saw three boys looking over at her. She noticed that one was incredibly handsome; almost movie star handsome. He wasn't much taller than her and he looked to be around her age. The other one looked a little younger, but still resembled the handsome one. She thought they looked so much alike that they could be brothers. The last one was darker and looked down as soon as Julie looked over so she didn't get a good look at him. She waved to them before getting back to unpacking. Maybe things won't be so bad here, she thought, after all with a guy like that around I could learn to love this place. The boys went back to messing around and continued down the street while Julie and her mother got her mattress out along with the bed post.

* * *

><p>Soda was walking around with Pony and Johnny when they saw someone moving in across the street from where they were standing. A girl who looked to be about his age was walking out of the house when she saw them. She gave them a small wave before getting back to whatever it was she was doing. She was pretty, thought Soda, not gorgeous but pretty. She had light brown hair that came down to the middle of her back and she wasn't much shorter than him, which was a bit uncommon considering Soda was almost as tall as Darry now. He'd had a hard time getting over Sandy, but he thought that maybe meeting that girl would make it a little easier. He decided he'd come back when she wasn't so busy. They walked back to his house and when inside Soda told the rest of the guys about the girl they'd seen.<p>

"So there's some new chick that just moved in down the street," he said to Steve who was sitting on the couch.

"She cute?" Steve questioned.

"Yeah…she's not Sandy, but she's cute," he sighed.

"Look, man, you really need to get over this whole Sandy thing. Just like I got over Evie." Steve had never cared much for Sandy, but then again no one had. Soda was the only one who actually liked her. Steve thought she was bossy and not even Soda's type, but who was he to tell him who to date. Steve had his own love life problems anyway. His girlfriend, Evie, had moved to California about a month and ago and as much as he said he was over her; he wasn't. Soda didn't say anything to Steve after that so Steve spoke again.

"You gonna go over and meet her?" he asked.

"Naw, I don't know. She's cute and all, but nothin' I need to be runnin' over there for," he replied. Steve nodded his head because he understood. Soda had girls all over him all day so a new girl down the street wasn't much.

* * *

><p>Once everything was unpacked, Julie plopped down on her bed and groaned. She was sooo tired. It had taken them almost twelve hours to get to Oklahoma and she didn't sleep most of the way. She looked over at her clock and let a yawn escape from her mouth. She figured she could take a short nap before dinner. She let her eyes close as she drifted to sleep…<p>

"Julie!" her mother called. Julie woke up and looked at her clock again and this time it read six thirty. It sure hadn't felt like an hour nap, Julie thought to herself. She walked downstairs and sat at the table with her mother. This would be the first dinner they'd had without her father.

"So I guess I'll be looking for a job tomorrow," Julie tried to start a conversation.

"Yes, that would be very helpful, Julie."

"You know I'll do my best to help, mom." Julie's mother gave a small smile and they continued to eat in silence. After dinner, Julie went back upstairs to lie down. She drifted off to sleep once again and the next time she woke up she could see the sun shining in through her window. She rolled over so she wouldn't be facing the sun, but just ended up falling flat on her face.

"Ouch! Stupid floor," she muttered getting up, "Mom?" she called. When she didn't hear an answer she went downstairs to see a note from her mother on the fridge.

_Julie,_

_My new job starts earlier so I probably won't be there to greet you in the morning. It's just something we'll have to get used to. I want to you to go out and try to find a job today. You only have today to look because you have school tomorrow. I'll see you when I get home tonight, which will probably be later than usual. I love you so much._

_Mom_

Julie took a look at the clock and noticed that it was already eleven thirty. She went upstairs to take a nice long shower and it felt so good. She got out and found pair of denim shorts and a tie dye shirt. The shirt was a bit big so she wore a white wife beater underneath it and she tied the tie dye shirt above her waist. Once she was done she left her house and walked along until she came to a DX gas station. She could barely make out the 'Mechanic Wanted' sign hanging on the window. She knew how to fix a car better than most of the guys she knew back in Tennessee so she sauntered into the station and up to the counter. She couldn't believe it; the handsome guy she'd seen the day before was standing behind the counter!

"Well hi there. You're that new girl from around the corner," he said.

"Uh, yeah. I'm Julie Davidson," she informed him.

"Sodapop Curtis, but you can call me Soda," he stuck out his hand for her to shake, so she did. She was pretty sure her cheeks were red, but she tried to ignore it.

"Sodapop? That's an interesting name."

"Well yeah, my dad wanted us to have original names so…"he trailed off.

"Us?"

"Oh yeah, my brother Ponyboy I mean. You probably saw him yesterday," he smiled. She nearly melted at his smile.

"Oh okay. Well anyways I, uh, saw that you guys needed another mech-"

"Hey Soda, could you grab me a drink," a boy coming out of the garage cut her off.

"Now Steve, you wanna be a gentleman around the lady?" Soda asked the boy, whose name was apparently Steve, gesturing to Julie. She blushed a little bit and Steve rolled his eyes.

"Maybe she should leave, so you can actually do your job," the boy muttered and he walked around Soda to grab a drink. Julie took in his appearance and found him rather good looking. He was obviously the other mechanic because he had grease smudges on his face and all over his clothes. Julie never could resist a guy who knew his way around a car, even if he was as rude as Steve. He was almost as tall as Soda, but was more built than him.

* * *

><p>Steve came in from the garage to get drink and he noticed Soda talking to some girl. Shocker! The girl was cute, but she was obviously interested in Soda…sometimes that got on his nerves, but he tried to push the jealous feeling away and focus on what Soda was saying to the girl. He saw that they were talking about him.<p>

* * *

><p>"Don't mind him," Soda whispered, "He's just been a little cranky since his girl left him."<p>

"I can you, ya know," Steve said, "By the way, I'm Steve…Randle."

"Julie Davidson. I heard you guys needed a mechanic so I figured I'd come see if I could get the job," she spoke before she could be interrupted again.

"You wanna be a mechanic?" Steve scoffed.

"You don't think I can do it because I'm girl," Julie challenged him.

"If you're so good why don't you show us?" a man coming out of the manager's office said.

"Give me a car and I'll fix it." Steve led her over to the garage and pointed to a car, "Fix that one." Soda and the manger had followed them into the garage and were both amused by the situation because it wasn't every day they saw a girl who could fix a car. Julie took off her shirt so she had her only her wife beater on because there was no way she was getting her shirt all greasy. She heard a low whistle, but ignored it; she knew she had a big chest and she hated it. Every time she wore a tight shirt, guys make stupid comments about it. She looked at the car for a moment then started working on it. It didn't take her long to fix it and the manager, whose name was Brian, told her she had the job and she started her part time job after school the next day. After talking with Brian, Julie went back to the garage and smirked at Steve.

"Told you I could do it."

"Yeah and now you have to work with me every day."

"Except for Thursdays."

"But you still have to deal with me."

"I don't think that'll be so bad," she said with a slight smile. She really didn't think it would be that bad either; Steve sure was cute.

"That so?" he raised his eyebrow as he wiped his hands on an already dirty rag.

"Yup. See you tomorrow, Steve." With that she left. He thought he might have detected a bit of flirting, but he was probably wrong. The girls always came here after Soda, didn't they?

A/N: So how did GreaserGirlie do press the button that says **Review This Chapter** and tell me.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: GreaserGirlie own Julie Davidson and her mother and Mr. Harris, but that's it! S.E. Hinton owns EVERYTHING else….:(

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><p>~After Julie had left~<p>

"She's the girl I was talkin' about, ya know," Soda told Steve as he was leaning against the doorway to the garage.

"She is?" Steve asked.

"Yeah. You're gonna be pretty distracted workin' with her aren't ya?" Soda grinned at him. He was really just messing with Steve.

"What? No!"

"Chill out, man. I was just kiddin'. She is pretty though…" Soda trailed off thinking about how Julie had looked.

"Yeah I guess. Hey can you help me out with this?" Steve interrupted Soda's thoughts. Soda shook Julie from his head and helped his friend with the car.

Julie started her walk home and her mind drifted to Steve and Soda. They seemed like complete opposites, yet they seemed like best friends at the same time. They were both really cute too. Only Soda was actually nice to her. No, she thought to herself, you need to focus on the end of this school year, and then you can think about boys. Who was she kidding though? She had never had much of an interest in school and besides the school year was almost over. She could start caring her senior year. She figured she would do some grocery shopping for her mom since it sounded like she wasn't going to be home for a while. While she was at the store she saw what appeared to be a "family grocery store trip."

"But mom! I don't want any broccoli!" the little girl screamed. She was in a turquoise dress with bows in her hair, but the bows looked like they were about to fall out. Her mother was trying to convince her that she would need to buy the broccoli for dinner.

"Sweetie, you are going to eat it no matter what!" the mother tried to tell the little girl, "Mark can you please tell her that we will be eating the broccoli?" The husband just stood there and shrugged his shoulders. There wasn't much he could do and he knew it; that was how Julie's father was. The thought of her father brought tears to Julie's eyes. She turned around quick and paid for her things. She left as she almost ran back to her house. Once inside, she wiped the tears away; she hated crying. She got a hold of herself and put the groceries away. Then she took a seat on the couch and watched some T.V. That was pretty much all she did the whole day until she had to start dinner.

"So Soda, I heard some girl's workin' at the DX now?" Two-Bit asked, wiggling his eyes brows. Soda rolled his eyes knowing what Two-Bit was implying.

"Yeah. She's a new mechanic. How'd you hear about her?"

"Well ole Stevie here has been talkin' bout her nonstop since you two got back from work." Soda looked over to Steve who glared at Two-Bit.

"I didn't talk that much about her. I told you she was workin' there and that's it," Steve snapped. Soda merely chuckled because it was a lot of fun to tease Steve about girls. He got plenty of them, but he hated talking about them with the guys.

"Dinner's ready!" Darry shouted from the kitchen.

* * *

><p>~Riiiiiiiiiinnnnnngngggggg~ Julie's alarm clock rang.<p>

"Ugh that thing needs to shut up," Julie mumbled, getting out of her bed. It would be her first day at her new school and she wasn't exactly looking forward to it. According to the clock, it was seven thirty six. Great! So now she was late and didn't even have time for a shower. She threw on a black skirt and a white shirt that came off her shoulders with sleeves that went to her elbows. Normally she wouldn't dress that nice, but she wanted to leave a good impression. She slipped on black flats and ran down the stairs. As she ran by the mirror she realized her hair wasn't exactly nice. She grabbed a brush and ran it through her hair, swiped some mascara onto her eyes, and left. She didn't bother to walk faster because she knew she'd be late either way. When she heard someone honking on her she jumped. A car pulled up next to her and wouldn't you know it, Steve was the driver.

"Need a ride to school?" he smirked.

"Um…yeah I guess I do," she replied. She couldn't pass up a ride to school on the first day. She walked around to the other side of the car and got in.

"So…how old are you?" Julie inquired.

"Sixteen," he answered. He didn't take his eyes off the road for one minute, Julie noticed.

"Oh that's cool. What about Soda?" she was just trying to be casual, but Steve took it the wrong way.

"He's sixteen too. And he's single by the way," Steve wasn't happy about that fact, but he knew that Julie liked Soda already.

"Oh I, I didn't mean it like that. I was just curious." She was blushing and Steve could tell just by the way she talked.

"Don't worry. All the girls go after him," he said in a rather annoyed tone. They still had a few minutes until they got to school so Julie kept the conversation going.

"Well maybe I'm not like all the girls."

"You can say what you want, but I saw you with him."

"Well he is cute, but…" _Your cuter, _she wanted to say, but she stopped herself before the words escaped her mouth.

"But?" he pushed on.

"Nothing. Never mind. Just don't tell him I said that," she ordered. He only smirked again because he thought he was right; right about her liking Soda. He was half right, but it'd be while before he figured out the other half.

"So how old are you?" he decided to ask.

"Sixteen, but I'll be seventeen in July, "she responded. He nodded and they remained quiet until they got to school.

"Well here we are." They pulled into the school parking lot and Julie didn't really look like she wanted to get out.

"You gonna get out?" he questioned.

"Yeah... sorry." He thought she looked nervous, but he didn't quite understand why.

"Why are you nervous?" he asked her.

"It's just…just my dad…never mind, it's not all that important. Besides we're gonna be late," she got out of the car and began walking into the school. Steve quickly got out and followed her. He looked at what she was wearing and thought she looked good. He swiftly waved the thoughts of Julie out of his head because he knew nothing could ever happen between them.

Steve had almost enjoyed the ride to school more than he thought he would. Once he'd seen Julie walking to school, he decided to offer her a ride. All they really talked about though, was their ages and Soda. He still couldn't stand it; Soda always got the girl. He always had to sit back and watch most of the girls come to the DX and flirt with Soda. He would never admit it, but he was jealous of his best friend.

"Well thanks for the ride. I really appreciate it," Julie stopped to tell Steve as they walked the hallways. They were the only two in the hallway because they were late.

"No problem." They stood for what felt like forever to the both of them, just looking at each other.

"Ms. Davidson I presume you are and Mr. Randle, you're late," a stout man in a gray suit stood at the other end of the hallway. He made his way over to the two of them, "Because you are new to this school, Ms. Davidson, you are free to go to class, but Mr. Randle you must come to my office, now!"

"Well if Steve has go, shouldn't I?" Steve looked over at Julie who was standing there as if she hadn't said something so stupid. She was basically asking to get in trouble.

"I said you may go to class. What part of that do you not understand?" the principal questioned.

"Well I just don't think it's very fair that Steve is in trouble and I'm not." She couldn't help it; she'd been this way her whole life. She hated authority more than anything in the world and she loved to test it.

"Great. Another smart ass kid," he said as if she wasn't there and she rolled her eyes, "I saw that. Fine, both of you in my office."

"Yes sir," Julie replied. The principal, whose name according to the nameplate on his desk was Mr. Harris, sat them down on the other side of his desk. Steve couldn't help but like her a little more after that. She sure didn't care much for authority and he liked that.

"Detention for both of you," Mr. Harris told them.

"Detention?" Julie gasped.

"What did you expect for being late and then mouthing off to me?" Mr. Harris spoke sharply, "Now get out of my office and it's room 104 for detention."

Julie got up first and Steve slowly followed. Once in the hallway Julie started pacing back and forth.

"Detention? I got detention on the first day…well that ain't good!"

"Alright, I've only known you for about a day and I can tell you don't like these principal type guys so why are you freaking out about detention?" Steve asked.

"My mom really hates it when I get in trouble and detention on the first day just won't go over too good with her."

"You'll be fine, I'll be there with you," Steve paused realizing how that probably sounded, "I mean uh, anyways….What's your first class?

"Um," she looked down at her schedule, "History."

"Oh aren't you lucky, that's mine too," Steve remarked. Honestly, he was happy that he had first period with Julie.

"Oh that's just…wonderful." She just couldn't get away from the guy. Not that she wanted to, but she needed to think about school and having him in the same classroom wouldn't help. They walked to class and everyone stared at them when they walked in.

"And where were you two?" the teacher asked.

"We were late, so we had to pay the principal a little visit," Julie answered with a little bit too much sass.

"Just take a seat," the teacher ordered. There were only two seats left and of course they were next to each other. One must have been Steve's, Julie figured so the other one was hers.

"Would you like to tell us something about yourself…" the teacher spoke.

"Julie, Julie Davidson. And not really."

"Well I think your classmates should know a little about you."

"Fine, I'm from Tennessee. Happy?"

"It's good enough."

So she was from Tennessee. That would explain the southern accent. Living in Oklahoma he had a bit of a southern accent too, but hers was so sweet; almost like honey. He noticed that she actually paid attention to the lesson being taught. He stared at her for most of the class and didn't bother to look away every time she glanced at him. The bell finally rang and Steve was to go to math while Julie was to go to english.

"Hey um, I just thought I'd let you know that me and couple of other guys usually head over to this place called the Dingo for lunch," Steve informed Julie.

"Are you saying that I could come with you?"

"Well, yeah I mean if you wanted."

"Okay, sounds fun. I'll meet you in the parking lot when it's time for lunch." She gave him a smile and walked towards english.

He watched her walk away and couldn't believe how much he liked her. Hell, he'd only met her yesterday and he already wanted to kiss her. He just hoped the guys weren't stupid around her.

* * *

><p>Just a few more minutes and then it would be lunch time. Julie sat there impatiently tapping her pencil against the desk. She hated math, but at least she didn't suck at it. She heard the lunch bell and quickly got up from her seat. On her way out of the classroom she ran into someone. Before she had a chance to speak, the guy she'd bumped into beat her to it.<p>

"Watch where you're goin' Greaser," he barked. Julie had no clue what a greaser was but she didn't want to stay around to find out.

"Sorry, gosh. I didn't know running into someone was a federal crime now," she mumbled under her breath and she walked away. The guy gripped her arm hard and looked in her eyes with his buddies laughing behind him.

"You wanna say that again? 'Cause if I were you, I'd just keep on walking."

"Could ya just let me go?"

"Only 'cause there's witnesses. Just watch your back." Julie was a bit frightened because no one had actually ever threatened her like that without a reason. She turned and made her way to her locker. She put her books away and walked out to the parking lot. She saw Steve leaning against his car with a few other guys around him. She recognized the two younger ones as the ones she'd seen with Soda. But the other one looked a little older with rusty colored hair and sideburns to match. She made her way over to his car and smiled a little.

"Hey," he spoke first.

"Hey."

"Well now, who's this pretty girl?" the guy with the sideburns looked at her and put his arm around her shoulder.

"I'm Julie and I'm kinda new 'round here."

"Oh well lucky for you, you have a couple of nice hoods like us to show you around. I'm Two-Bit Mathews and don't ask 'bout the name," he laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world and Julie had to laugh too.

"Back off Two-Bit. She ain't like the girls you date. She's a little better than them," Steve said.

"You better be careful Stevie, that new chick at DX hears you talkin' like that and she might think you ain't into her," Two-Bit pointed out. Steve rolled his eyes.

"Wait, new girl at the DX…is he talkin' about me?" Julie asked, slightly confused. Steve simply nodded his head and took out a cigarette.

"Don't tell me you're her?" Two-Bit asked Julie.

"I guess I am."

"Well now you're much prettier than Stevie described you."

"Oh would you just shut up Two-Bit," Steve sent Two-Bit a nasty glare.

"I'm just sayin' when you said she was pretty, you didn't say just how pretty she really was." Julie blushed a bit. She wasn't sure if she was blushing at Two-Bit's complement or at the fact Steve apparently said she was pretty.

"Just get in the car." Two-Bit made a move to get in the front passenger seat, but Steve stopped him, "Not uh. You have to sit in the back with those two. She gets to sit in the front," he pointed to Julie.

"Man, already choosin' your girlfriend over your friends?" Two-Bit shook his head as if he was ashamed of Steve.

"She ain't my girlfriend so I'd appreciate it if you kept your damn mouth shut," Steve struggled to keep his voice calm. Sometimes he couldn't stand Two-Bit and his stupid jokes. He pulled out of the parking lot and they were off to the Dingo.

Julie turned around in her seat and looked at the two other boys sitting next to Two-Bit. "So what are your names?"

"Ponyboy, Ponyboy Curtis," one answered. So this was the brother Soda had been talking about.

"Oh you're Soda's brother?"

"Yeah. And we have another brother named Darry."

"This is Johnny," Ponyboy introduced the darker boy.

"Well it's nice to meet you boys." She thought Ponyboy was nice enough and Johnny was shy, but friendly.

"Well this is it," Steve sighed as they pulled into the parking lot of a somewhat run-down restaurant.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: S E Hinton owns all the characters from the outsiders and GreaserGirlie owns Julie and all other Ocs

"Here darlin' let me get that for ya," Two-Bit said to Julie as he got out of the car to open her door.

"Well aren't you a gentleman?" She gave a smile and got out.

When they got into the diner, they found a booth in the corner. Steve slid in one side and Julie slid in next to him. Next thing she knew, Two-Bit was on the other side of her. There wasn't much room so Julie and Steve were pretty much smashed up against each other. Johnny and Pony slid into the seats across the trio.

"Did you really have to sit on this side?" Steve asked Two-Bit.

"Why? Don't you want me on this side?"

"No not really." Steve was getting annoyed with all the hints Two-Bit kept giving Julie. She was gonna figure out what Two-Bit was trying to say and then she'd probably laugh in Steve's face. Or at least that's what Steve thought. Steve was starting to like Two-Bit's plan though, or at least part of it. Julie was pretty close to him, which he didn't mind at all.

Julie tried to keep the redness from making its way to her face. She was so close to Steve that every time she shifted her body, her leg brushed up against his. A waitress came up to them and Two-Bit immediately started hitting on her.

"Excuse me? But if you're done with this conversation, the rest of us are hungry," Julie said to the waitress.

"Fine whadaya want?" the waitress snapped rudely.

"Five burgers and five cokes," Steve answered for her.

"Make that four cokes and one diet coke," Julie informed the waitress. After the waitress left they all sat there in an awkward silence. Julie looked around at the restaurant, but was brought back to the boys when she heard someone chuckling.

"What?" Julie asked Two-Bit, who was now sitting with Johnny and Pony. Steve and Julie had yet to notice this.

"Nothin' just that I've been sittin' over here since we ordered and you two are still as close as can be." Steve and Julie looked at each other and realized that Two-Bit was right. Julie scooted over a little so she wasn't touching Steve anymore.

"So sweetheart, where ya from?" Two-Bit inquired. He really could be a creep when he wanted to.

"Tennessee."

"Huh? So what brought you to Tulsa? There ain't much to do 'round here so I'm pretty sure it ain't for the attractions."

"Well our house kind of…ya know I don't even know you and I'm sharin' information like this with you," she said.

"Oh come on! We're friends now," he tried to convince her to go on.

"I wouldn't call us friends, Two-Bit. I mean I think I'd rather be friends with Ponyboy or Johnny here than you," she joked. Two-Bit looked slightly hurt and so Julie cracked a smile, "Y'all are way too easy to fool."

"Oh so you think you're funny huh?" Two-bit questioned.

"Actually I do. I'm a bit a jokester."

"Well see now we can be friends 'cause we've got so much in common."

"One thing in common doesn't mean we're friends."

"Well you and Steve don't have anything in common and you guys are pretty close," he said, thinking he'd gotten her there.

"That's not true. We have loads in common," Julie stated and when Two-Bit waited for her to continue she tried hard to think of something, "We both like fixin' cars. And um…" That was all she could think of.

"And I'm almost positive that we both find you incredibly annoying," Steve chimed in.

Two-Bit whistled and spoke, "Those were some mighty big words there, Stevie. Showin' off for the lady?" Julie let out a small laugh and quickly realized that she hadn't meant for it to come out.

"What are you laughin' about?" Steve turned to her.

"Oh nothin'" she answered.

"Hey we better get back," Ponyboy spoke up.

They all got out of the booth and into Steve's car. The ride back was worse than the ride there because of the awkwardness Two-Bit had created between Julie and Steve. When they got back to school, Johnny and Pony ran back in not wanting to be late. Two-Bit decided he was ditching so that left Julie and Steve alone.

"So we should probably get inside," Julie started talking first.

"Probably," Steve walked back around to the driver's side and opened the door.

"Wait, where are you going?" Julie stopped him. She was a little nervous about walking in by herself now that those guys had threatened her.

"I'm ditching," he replied.

"Oh." She looked back at the school then down to the ground. It was a technique she used to use to get what she wanted with her dad. She'd look away and then to the ground and pretend like she was a little bit upset. Her dad always took it as her being _really_ upset; therefore, he would give in automatically. She figured it could work with Steve too and she was right.

Steve sighed and looked away. "You wanna come?"

Julie looked up at him and shrugged her shoulders. "Sure." She got back in his car and they left school once again.

"Where are we goin'?" Julie asked.

"The DX."

"Seriously? You ditch school to go hang out at your job?"

"Well that's what we're gonna do. If you don't like it, get out."

"It's fine with me. We were gonna have to go there after school anyways."

They arrived at the DX and walked inside. Julie smiled at Soda and he smiled back. Steve noticed the exchange and was filled with disgust.

"Ditchin' on your first day? Not the brightest idea," Soda said to Julie.

"I know, but Steve was doin' it and I figured I would need a ride here for work anyways."

"You been with Steve all day?"

"Yeah. Well except for a few classes, but then we went to the Dingo for lunch with…Two-Bit, Johnny and Ponyboy." Soda looked over at Steve who was busy talking with Brian about who knows what.

"So I was just wondering, why weren't you at school?" She instantly regretted asking him that when he looked down at the ground and gave his answer.

"I dropped out a year ago. When my parents died I needed to help Darry, my older brother, with the bills so I got a full time job."

"Oh I'm so sorry." She put her hand on Soda's arm to show support.

"Don't worry about it. It's in the past and I've been trying to get over it."

"I know how you feel…my dad; he died a few weeks ago."

"Oh Julie, that's really recent, huh? Well I'm here if you need to talk." He gave her a reassuring smile, but their moment was interrupted by Steve.

"Hey man, I got Brian to give me Friday night off," he told Soda as he walked over.

"That's great, but I still gotta work," Soda replied with a laugh.

"Fine, I guess I'll be goin' to Bucks with that idiot." Julie didn't know what this "Bucks" place was, but she didn't get a chance to ask.

"Julie? What are you doin' here? Your shift don't start until four," Brian spoke to Julie.

"Oh well, I just came with Steve so…" She really didn't know what to say.

"Oh lordy, I can't have you two foolin' around out in the garage, I'll tell you that right now." Steve could see Soda's facial expression change when Brian said that. It was almost as if Soda was upset by what Brian said.

"Oh, no it's not like that or anything. We're just friends," Julie responded a bit flustered. She didn't understand why everyone was making comments on her and Steve.

"Yeah sure you are." Brian shook his head and muttered something to himself.

"Sodapop we're back!" a girl with brown hair and a way too short skirt came in running with two other girls.

"Oh hey Tammy," Soda said with very little enthusiasm.

"So, you takin' me out Friday night?" the girl named Tammy asked.

"Sorry, I gotta work, but Steve's off."

Steve rolled his eyes and Julie caught him.

"He's tryin' to set you up and you're getting annoyed?" she questioned. It didn't make much sense to her.

Steve hated when Soda tried to pass him the girls he didn't want. Just because they weren't good enough for Soda, didn't mean they were good enough for Steve.

"He's always passin' me the girls he don't want."

"Hey Steve," Tammy walked over and placed a hand on Steve's shoulder, "I was thinking you could take me out on Friday night?"

"Nah," Steve gave a simple answer. Julie had to stifle a laugh because of the annoyed look on Steve's face.

"Why not? You ain't gotta a girl now so maybe I could-"

"Now stop right there. Who said I don't have a girl?" Steve knew it was true, but he loved to mess with the idiot girls that came in there.

"Well Evie left so…" Steve looked at Julie and winked, letting her know to follow along.

"Well after she left, I met Julie here." Julie was a little surprised until she thought of why he was doing this. Steve put his arm around Julie so she smirked at Tammy.

"So you're with…her?" she said it like Julie was the black plague or something.

"Yep. I'm thinkin' she's a better choice than you."

"Well, that's just fine. I can find me some other boy like that!" she snapped her fingers and walked away.

"Bye Tammy!" Julie shouted just to make Tammy mad.

"What did you say to her? And why are you two all…" Soda came over to them. When he noticed Steve's arm around Julie, he felt a pang of jealousy.

"Oh we were just messin' with that Tammy chick," Julie answered, removing Steve's arm from her shoulder.

"Oh sounds like fun." It didn't sound like fun to him at all. He really liked Julie, already.

* * *

><p>Steve and Julie hung out around the DX for a while until their shifts actually started. Steve had to show Julie where everything was and then she got her uniform. Julie had thought ahead about clothes though; she went into the bathroom to change into her old jeans, her brown cowboy boots, and her new DX shirt.<p>

"Nice boots," Steve smirked.

"You think I look cute just admit it," she retorted.

Steve did think she looked cute in her cowboy boots and DX shirt. He was busy looking at her so when he heard a honk from behind him, it startled him.

"Mom?" Julie walked over to the woman who had just pulled up in front of the garage.

"Hi honey, I took a little break and just wanted to check in. I know you just started your shift, but I wanted to see how you were doing. How was your first day of school?"

Steve tried not to laugh as he walked up behind Julie.

"Oh, it was really good. I met some people and learned some things. It was…really good."

"Oh that's wonderful! And you are?" Julie's mother asked Steve. Julie hadn't even noticed Steve until her mother spoke to him.

"Steve Randle. I'm the other mechanic here, but I also go to school with Julie." Julie wondered where this Steve had been earlier. The Steve she was seeing was polite as ever. When she met him, he was incredibly rude.

"Oh well it's lovely to meet you, Steve. I'm glad to know Julie's already made friends."

"Mom," Julie groaned, "Can you please stop? You did this the last time I was in this situation and do you remember how that worked out?"

"Oh right, right. I'm sorry, but Steve here does seem more polite than that other boy."

"Alright mom, I think it's time for you to go." Julie gently pushed her mother over to her car. She waved her mom off and turned back to Steve, "I don't wanna hear it."

"What? She seems nice and I think she liked me."

"Of course she liked you. You are better than the other ones."

"Other ones?"

"Yeah, the other _boys._ See, now that you've met my mom and acted all fake polite, she thinks I'll go out with you."

"So she wants you to go out with me?" Steve would be willing to go out with her even if it was just because her mom wanted him to.

"Pretty much. But she's like that about every guy who hasn't been convicted of more felonies than he can count or mouthed off to her."

"How many of these guys has she met exactly?"

"Too many to count," Julie teased as she went back into the garage.

A/N: I know you guys are waiting for the next chapter in the story and im almost done with it.

Tell me and greaserGirlie whatcha thought and how will we know if you press that little button that says review this chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

Love Smells like gasoline

A/N: Again this chapter belongs to GreaserGirlie

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to S E Hinton, any original characters belong to GreaserGirlie

*Thursday at school*

"Hey greaser!" the same Soc who had previously bothered Julie yelled at her as she walked into school. She didn't bother to turn around because she already knew who it was. He had been bothering her every day that week.

"Hey greaser I was talkin' to you!" the guy ran up and yanked Julie's arm, just before she could get into the school.

"Ow, could you let go of me!" she yelped.

"I don't think so. Remember on Monday when I told you that you better watch your back?" she rolled her eyes and nodded, "Well I guess you greasers don't listen very well because now no one is around to help you."

Julie tried to inch her way closer to the door, but she couldn't get out of his grip. "Please just let me go! I didn't even do anything to you!"

"You got your disgusting filth all over me on Monday."

"I bumped into you, jerk!"

"On purpose I'm sure," he smirked.

"Oh yeah. That was exactly what I was trying to do; get into a fight with someone on my first day. Sounds real smart, huh?" He pushed her onto the ground and sent her books flying everywhere. Julie was fed up at this point and she wasn't going to take any more of it.

"Good. Now you're on the ground where you belong," he snarled.

"That doesn't even make any sense, you idiot! And another thing, you need to stop touching me!" she yelled, getting up from the ground.

"And what if I don't?" He grabbed her arm again. This time she swung her other arm around and punched him as hard as she could in the face and he stumbled back a bit.

"What the hell! You crazy little-," he didn't bother to finish; instead he pushed her back harder onto the ground. She soon felt the pain in her ankle from the guy stepping on it.

"That's what you get, you damn greaser!" he wiped the blood from his nose and laughed.

"Mr. Johnston! Get to class, now! You're already late as it is!" the principal said, moving out onto the steps, "And you, clean up all those books and hurry it up!" The principal didn't even bother to see if Julie was okay, which she was extremely confused about.

* * *

><p>Steve drove into the parking lot, late as usual and he saw Julie walking in. What he saw after that surprised and angered him at the same time. He saw the guy, who appeared to be a Soc, shove Julie down onto the ground. But then he saw her stand up, say something, and punch him hard. He pushed her again and she held her ankle. Steve wanted to go up and do something, but at that point the principal had come out to yell at them. He didn't even bother to help Julie! Steve was beyond angry so he stepped out of his car and slammed the door.<p>

"Hey, what happened?" Steve asked, walking up to Julie who was still on the ground, leaning against the railing.

"That stupid jerk was just messing with me again. It's nothing," she tried to stand up, but unintentionally leaned on Steve for support. Steve noticed she wasn't crying or even looking upset.

"Why can't you stand up?"

"He stepped on my ankle, well stomped is more like it."

"Damn, Julie. Why didn't you tell me he'd been saying stuff to you?"

"Because I don't need to run and cry when someone scares me or tries to hurt me. I can take care of myself!" She stood on her own and bit her tongue so she couldn't scream out in pain.

"Yeah sure you can. That's why you can barely walk on your own right now." He smirked at her and she bent down to pick her books up, "Would you just quit it all ready?" He bent down next to her, grabbed her books, and shoved them into her bag. He stood up and helped Julie up, although he wasn't very gentle about it.

"Thanks," she mumbled. She tried to grab the bag from him, but he pulled it away causing her to stumble forward a bit. She yelped in pain and leaned up against the building.

"Oh yeah, you're definitely fine," he said to her. She was getting a bit sick of his joking around, so she grabbed her bag from him and limped inside.

"Julie, wait!" he called after her.

"What? What do you want, Steve? What could you possibly have to tell me? Huh? You gonna rub it in my face that some stupid guy is practically bullying me? That I can't even walk in these halls without getting called some stupid name?" She was fuming and Steve was taken back a little. He hadn't expected her to explode like that.

"Look, Julie, I just…I thought…," he couldn't think of what to say so he went with, "Where'd you learn how to punch like that?"

She looked to the ground, contemplating if she should answer him or not. She didn't want to bring it up, but all he wanted was an answer.

"My dad taught me," she told him.

"Oh well he must be a pretty tough guy if you can punch that hard."

"He was a pretty tough guy…but he was nice. He was a real good man."

"Was? You talk about him like he ain't here anymore."

"He's not," she snapped. She swallowed the lump in her throat and continued, "He died a few weeks ago in a house fire."

"I know how you feel. My mom, she passed away when I was eight." He looked down at the ground and he could feel her eyes on him. He hated being this open with someone, but Julie seemed to bring it out of him. She moved closer to him and leaned on him.

"Can we just skip? I really don't feel like being here with my ankle like this," she asked him.

"Sure. I'll take you back my place and we'll see what the damage is." He helped to his car and they took off towards his house. The thought of his dad being home didn't hit him until they got to his house and the truck was in the driveway.

"Well ain't you gonna come over here and help me?" Julie questioned.

"No, we can't be here right now."

"What? Why not?"

"We just can't alright? God damn, just shut up."

"Don't tell me to shut up! You're the idiot who drove us here then decided we couldn't be here!" Normally Julie wouldn't have been so rude, but she had a slight temper and sometimes the dumbest thing could bring it out.

"Just shut the hell up. I said we can't be here right now, okay?" Steve was getting frustrated with Julie. She opened her door and got out. She was barely putting any weight on it and she really didn't know what she had planned on doing once she got out. "What are you doing?" he asked her as he got out of the car.

"I'm leaving!"

"No you ain't."

"Oh and who's gonna stop me?"

"That bum leg of yours is gonna stop you," he smirked.

"I'm perfectly fine to walk on my own. I can make it to the DX and maybe Soda will nice enough to help me!"

"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you?" Steve realized that he needed to tone it down a little with the Soda stuff.

"Well I would like it if anyone helped me!"

"Hey! What the hell is goin' on out here? You good for nothin' kid! What are you doin' screamin' out here like you own the damn place!" Steve's dad came out of the house. Julie had no clue who this man was, but she didn't like him. He was big and looked like he'd been drinking. Steve stepped in front of Julie as his dad made his way over to them.

"Nothin'. We were just leavin'" Steve replied.

"Good. Leave and don't come back! You don't appreciate anything I do! All you do is eat my food and scream out in my yard!" Steve's fists were clenched, but he wouldn't let Julie witness any more of this. He pulled her back to the car and almost shoved her inside. He then proceeded to get into the car. He gave his dad the finger and left. The car ride was quiet and Julie felt bad about yelling at Steve. She understood why he didn't want her there.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know…" she tried to apologize. He didn't bother to reply.

* * *

><p>They got to the DX and Soda took one look at Julie and just about lost it.<p>

"What happened to you?" He rushed over to examine her and she had to smile.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. It was just some stupid guy at school."

"You mean, some guy hurt you?" Soda hated the idea of anyone hurting Julie. He would find this guy and let him know not to mess with her later.

"Yeah..."

"Well here lemme help you out."

"I'm fine really. It's just sprained."

"And how do you know that," Steve asked her, speaking for the first time since they'd left his house.

"Because I've been in fights before. I've had sprained ankles before so I know what they feel like. I'll just give it a day or two and it'll be fine." Soda rolled his eyes at this. He knew she was trying to be tough, but he saw straight through her.

"Hey! Seems no one is doing their job up at the counter," their boss came out speaking to Soda.

"Oh, yeah sorry about that. I was just helpin' Julie out; she got a little ruffed up."

"It's only nine o'clock in the mornin'. Who's messin' with ya this early?"

"Just a guy at school. Nothin' to be worried about the way y'all are."

"Tough girl, huh? I like that. Means I won't have to worry 'bout you complainin' about things like these two."

"Hey I don't complain about anything. You know I'm the best damn worker here," Steve gave a cocky answer.

"I don't know about that. Julie might have ya on that one."

Julie looked at Steve and smirked. Their boss just laughed and walked back inside. Soda, Steve, and Julie followed him.

"So Julie, what are your plans for this comin' weekend?" Soda asked as casually as he could. He didn't want to come off like he wanted to ask her out, even though he did.

"I'm not sure yet. I'm here with you tomorrow night and then I guess I still have to figure out the rest of the weekend." Julie wondered if Soda had asked that question for a reason.

"Oh well maybe I could show you around town?" Soda suggested.

"That sounds like a plan," Julie replied. She wasn't sure if Soda was trying to ask her out or not, but she still said yes. It wouldn't hurt to know the town a little better though. He gave her a big smile and she smiled back. They stared at each other for a while and it was as if they were the only two people in the world. Steve cleared his throat causing Soda and Julie to look over him.

"If you two could finish up flirtin' that'd be great."

"Oh hush up!" Julie smacked him on the arm.

"So about this guy…" Soda started but Julie held her hand up and stopped him.

"Don't even start. That guy is a jerk, but I can handle him all on my own."

"Well I believe you can."

"Thank you! At least you believe I can handle him! Steve here doesn't think I can be on my own for more than five minutes."

"Oh come off it! I didn't say you couldn't handle him. I just think you were acting like nothing was wrong when obviously somethin' was wrong!" he yelled at her, "And I think that was pretty damn stupid! You don't even know what he could do to you! What he would do to you! If he got you alone like that another time, do you even understand what could happen?" Julie didn't get a chance to respond because Steve was already half way out the door.

"What is wrong with him?" Julie turned to Soda.

"I don't know. He's just blowin' steam off about somethin, I'm sure."

"Think it had anything to do with his dad?" Julie asked curiously. She knew Soda would know more about that than she would.

"How do you know about his dad?" Soda questioned. Julie assumed he was referring to the yelling and drinking his dad had done.

"Well Steve was gonna take me back to his place to help me with my ankle, but he told me that he changed his mind. I kind of freaked out and yelled at him, and then he yelled back. That's when his dad came out."

"He hit Steve right in front of you? I'll never get that guy; he beats Steve and kicks him out then the next day he gives him five bucks to make up for it." Julie hadn't known about any abusing going on so when she heard what Soda said she was shocked.

"He beats Steve? All he did was yell at him when I was there!"

"Oh man…Oh man, Steve's gonna kill me if he finds out I told you. You can't tell him, okay?"

"Alright I won't, but I can't believe his dad abuses him!"

"It's been goin' on ever since his mom died."

"Oh yeah he told me about his mom dying. Seems like everyone has lost a parent. I guess my case isn't any more special then…" Julie really did believe that.

"Whoa Julie, come on now. It…just because my parents and Steve's mom died doesn't mean…it doesn't mean…oh hell Julie I don't know what to say." Soda truly didn't know what to say.

"You don't have to say anything Soda. Nothing will bring him back so there really is nothing to say."

"I know how you feel, I really do. Just know that I'm here if you need to talk or if you need a shoulder to cry on."

"I don't cry," Julie replied sharply.

Soda placed a hand on her shoulder and simply said, "Everyone cries." Julie was beginning to think Soda just might be a better choice than Steve.

* * *

><p>*Saturday*<p>

"Mom! Have you seen my purple and white shirt?" Julie yelled. She was running around like crazy trying to get ready. Soda would be there any minute and she wasn't dressed yet.

"This one?" her mother asked holding up a plaid purple and white shirt.

"Yes! Give it here!" she grabbed the shirt and ran upstairs to finish getting ready. She had on her white capris that came up to her knees, her plaid shirt, and white flats. She tied the shirt at her naval and observed herself in the mirror. Her hair was tied in a low ponytail and she had on a little mascara and lip gloss. She didn't know why she was getting so crazy figuring what to wear and trying to be perfect. She was just going to see the town with Soda.


	5. Chapter 5

Love Smells like gasoline

A/N: Again this chapter belongs to GreaserGirlie

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to S E Hinton, any original characters belong to GreaserGirlie

Soda knocked on Julie's door and her mother opened it. "Well hello! You must be Soda."

"Yes ma'am," he replied. She let him in and called for Julie.

"She should be down in a minute. Make yourself at home."

Soda looked around at Julie's house and noticed it still looked a bit messy because they had just gotten everything moved around and unpacked. It was a nice home though, he thought. He heard footsteps so he turned his attention to the direction of the noise. He swallowed hard when he saw Julie. He thought she looked good, great even.

"Hey," she greeted with a smile.

"Hey, you look real pretty," Soda responded without even thinking. He thought he saw Julie blush, but he wasn't sure.

"Thanks."

"Alright Julie I might be at work when you get home. But have a good time and please be safe," her mother said.

"Yes, mama."

Once they were outside, Julie and Soda started walking towards the middle of town. "I really hope she didn't bother you too much," Julie started the conversation.

"Nah. She was nice."

Julie laughed, "That's what Steve said."

"When did Steve meet her?" Soda thought that maybe Steve had already made a move on Julie.

"Oh she came down to the DX on Monday. She just wanted to see how I was doin' and stuff. Steve happened to be in the garage with me and she noticed him."

"Ohh."

"Mhm…so what are we doin' today?" Julie asked. She really didn't care what they did; she liked being around Soda no matter what.

"Can I tell you the truth?"

"Go for it," she encouraged him.

"I really don't have anything planned for today…I just wanted to spend time with you." Soda looked down at the ground as they walked because he was afraid of what she would say. Julie smiled at him and stopped him so he looked up at her. She thought that was the sweetest thing ever.

"That's really sweet, Soda." He was relieved when he heard this.

"Really? You think so?"

"Of course I do," she grinned and kissed him on the cheek.

"Well now, if that got me a kiss on the cheek, what would some ice cream get me?"

Julie rolled her eyes, "I guess you'll just have to find out." She began walking again and he ran up to be beside her. He put his hands in his pockets as a green mustang pulled up next to them.

"Hey baby! What are you doin' with a greaser like that! I could give ya a whole lot more if you know what I mean!" one of the Socs in the car yelled at Julie.

"Hey! You wanna watch what you're sayin' to her!" Soda defended Julie.

"It's okay. Let's just ignore them," Julie tried to get Soda to calm down.

"Yeah why don't you listen to your little whore here and shut up," the same guy yelled. Soda was ready to fight the Socs at this point. He was so angry that they were talking to Julie like that.

"What did you just call me?" Julie turned to the guy. He smirked and him and two of his friends got out of the car.

"I called you a whore, because you are. What are you gonna do about it?"

"I am not a whore!" Julie screamed at the guy. She had a lot of anger behind that and Soda was a bit surprised. The Socs laughed and walked closer to Julie while the other two walked over to Soda.

"You're a greaser so you're a whore."

"Dammit will you just shut up!" Julie shoved the guy as hard she could, but he didn't go far. He went to grab her arms, but Soda stopped him by punching him in the stomach. The Soc folded over and grunted. One of the other guys punched Soda in the face and he stumbled backwards, but caught himself. The same guy punched him again and this time Soda fell onto the ground. They were about to go after Julie when they heard police sirens. The Socs got in their car and left quickly. Julie rushed over to Soda was starting to stand up.

"Julie, you okay?" he asked. Julie laughed because he was the only one who'd gotten hurt.

"I should be asking you the same thing," she took his face in her hands gently and looked at the already forming black and purple circle forming around his left eye.

"I'll be fine. As long as you're okay," Soda softly pushed her hands down.

"Well you need to get some ice on that eye, now."

"I really don't need any ice."

"Just shut up and come on," Julie pulled him all the way back to her house. She opened the door and saw that her mother wasn't home anymore. _She must have gone to work already_, Julie thought to herself. Soda was a little mad at himself for getting beat up and not defending Julie like he should have.

"Take a seat on the couch," Julie ordered. Soda did as he was told. Julie went into the kitchen and grabbed some ice and wrapped it in a towel. She walked back over to Soda and pressed against his eye. He winced as she did this.

"Oh don't be such a baby," Julie shushed him. She pressed a little harder and he pulled her hand down.

"Man, that stuff hurts," Soda complained.

"Sorry, but you're gonna have a black eye if I don't do this now."

"I don't care if I have a black eye!" He immediately felt bad about yelling at her like that. He didn't mean to come off so mad, but he was still angry with himself. Julie looked down at the ground and he sat back on the couch.

"I'm sorry. It's just I didn't even protect you. All I did was get my ass kicked by a bunch of Socs!" Soda apologized and then shouted. He usually didn't swear, but he was so mad.

"Soda, I'm fine. Look at me! Nothing happened to me. And what are greasers and Socs? I've heard both of those names this week and I have no clue what they mean."

"Well a greaser is someone like me or Steve. Greasers are the poor people who live on the east side. The Socs are the rich jerks who live on the west side. They think they're so much better than the greasers," he informed Julie.

"Oh…so that makes me a greaser," it was more a statement than a question.

"Yeah. But you're not like the other greaser girls. What that guy said wasn't true ya know."

"I know it wasn't true. I mean, I've never even done…it…" Soda realized what she meant and smiled, "I know okay. Call me old fashioned, but I just haven't found that one guy yet." She looked at the goofy grin on Soda's face and thought that he was going to make fun of her.

"Go ahead, say how stupid I sound and how lame I am-" Soda shook his head causing her to stop talking.

"I don't think you're stupid. Actually I've never done it with anyone either," he confessed.

"Oh…well sorry; I'm just used to guys making comments about how I won't do anything with them."

"Guys press you about that stuff?" Soda wasn't happy to hear that guys tried to get Julie to do things like that with them.

"Yeah, that's usually when I break it off."

"Good; you need someone who's gonna treat ya better than that," Soda said and took a few steps closer to Julie. She blushed and looked down at the ground.

He lifted her head up and looked into her eyes, but didn't say anything. After a few seconds of staring Julie finally stood on her tippy toes and kissed him. She thought Soda was cute and sweet so she took a chance. He moved his hands to her waist and her hands found their way to the back of his neck.

Once they broke apart Soda spoke, "So I was wondering…did you maybe wanna go to the movies next Friday night? I'd take you out tonight, but I gotta work."

Julie laughed and said, "What do you think?"

"Well then, I guess we'll be going out on Friday."

"Sounds good to me." He kissed her again and she smiled as he did this. He could feel her smile and he had to smile back. Deep down inside, though, he knew that he'd beaten Steve and that he'd be pissed.

He left and she plopped down on the couch.

"So much for seeing the town," she said to herself. She felt a little weird about what had just happened. She wanted to kiss Soda; she wouldn't have done it if she didn't want to. But her mind kept drifting back to Steve. She liked him a lot, but here she was saying yes to a date with Soda. She sighed and leaded her head against the back of the couch.

* * *

><p>Soda walked out of Julie's house with a grin on his face. He'd asked her out and he couldn't have been happier that she said yes. He was also feeling pretty good about kissing her. He saw why guys would want to go further with her, but he'd never ask her to anything that she didn't want to; that was just the kind of guy he was. He'd completely forgotten about why he'd gone to her house in the first place; to take her out to see the rest of the town. <em>Oh well, <em>he thought to himself, _at least I've got a date with her._ He walked back to his house to see who was home.

"Hey man, where ya been?" Steve asked. He was sitting on the couch with his feet on the table.

"Oh, just uh…with Julie." Steve wasn't too happy when he heard this. Soda pushed Steve's feet off the table and sat down next to him.

"With Julie? Doin' what?"

"Well…I was supposed to be showing her around town, but some Socs showed up and tried to mess with us."

"That would explain the black eye. What happened after that?" Steve asked.

"Well we went back to her place 'cause she wanted to put ice on my eye and well one thing lead to another and…"Soda held back on telling Steve what happened because he wasn't sure how he'd take it.

"And what happened?" Steve didn't like where this was going, but he couldn't show it. He had to play it cool or else Soda would know he liked Julie.

"Well I've got a date with for next Friday." Soda didn't tell him about kissing Julie because he didn't think it would go over well. Steve simply nodded and turned his attention back to the T.V.

* * *

><p>The week went by really slow for Soda. He couldn't wait until Friday. But for Julie it was completely different. The week went by too fast and before she knew it, it was Friday. Over the week she'd gotten to like Steve even more. She was in the garage with him every day and sometimes her eyes would drift over to him while she was working. She had to get him out of her head though because she had a date with Soda, not Steve…<p>

* * *

><p>*Friday night*<p>

*Knock Knock*

"Julie! I think it's that Soda boy!" Julie's mother squealed.

"Would you calm down? You're more excited about this than I am," Julie commented.

"You're right. Why aren't you excited!"

"I am. I'm just not a spaz about it," Julie muttered under her breath.

"What are you waiting for? Get the door and let that boy in!"

Julie walked over to the front door. She straightened her black mini-skirt out and fixed her light pink button up blouse. Once she was done with that, she opened the door.

"Hi," she greeted him.

"Hey. Wow, you look really nice," he replied.

"Thanks. Let's go before my mom interrogates you," Julie grabbed his hand and walked to Soda's truck.

"Be home by eleven, Julie!" her mother yelled out the door.

Soda opened the door for Julie and she got into the truck. "Thanks."

"So we gotta swing by Steve's place and pick him and that Tammy girl up 'cause they're gonna double date with us.

"Oh…that sounds fine." Julie felt sick to her stomach. She really liked Steve, but she was on a date with Soda so she would just have to deal with it. They drove to Steve's house and Julie got out to sit in the back with Tammy. It was a bit awkward considering Tammy had previously thought Julie and Steve were together.

"So you guys were never together?" Tammy asked Julie. Steve and Soda were up front talking about cars and didn't have a clue about what the girls were talking about.

"Nope," Julie sighed, "We were just messin' with ya. Sorry about that; it was just a joke."

"Aw shoot, it's okay. You guys were pretty convincing though."

"Yeah I guess so." Once they'd gotten past the whole awkwardness, Julie realized that Tammy was an okay girl. She was a bit more daring with her clothing choices; she wore a very short black skirt and a red top that showed a lot of cleavage, but she was still an okay girl. They got to the drive-in and that's when Steve and Julie switched seats again. Halfway through the movie, Steve and Tammy were arguing.

"God, you are just so damn stupid!" Steve yelled at Tammy.

"I'm not the stupid one here! I came for a date with _you, _Steve! I didn't come to watch you stare at her the whole time!" Julie wondered if Tammy was referring to her.

"I ain't starin' at her! I don't know why you keep saying that!"

"Because you are! You haven't taken your eyes off her since we got here!" Tammy stormed out of the truck and Steve didn't even make a move to get out.

"I'll go find her," Julie volunteered. She got out and gave Steve a dirty look.

* * *

><p>Soda turned back to Steve once Julie left, "What the hell did you do?"<p>

"I don't know. She thinks I was starin' at Julie, but I was just tryin' to watch the damn movie."

"Well she's the jealous type so she probably just got upset you were in the same car with Julie." Soda laughed and Steve gave a weak laugh.

* * *

><p>"Tammy! There you are!" Julie exclaimed as walked up to a fuming Tammy near the bathroom.<p>

"Oh sorry I just stormed away like that, but Steve's got it bad for you Julie. It just pisses me off that I'm on a date with him and he won't pay any attention to me."

"Tammy, I really don't think Steve likes me, he likes you. He was just watching the movie, that's all." Julie really believed herself, but she didn't want to. She thought maybe Steve had felt the same for her, but then again if he did he wouldn't be on a date with Tammy.

"Maybe you're right…I don't know. I didn't even wanna go on a date with him; I wanted to go out with Soda. You just snapped him right up didn't you?" Tammy still had a bit of anger in her voice when she said that.

"I don't think it's gonna go anywhere though. So don't worry about Soda being with me."

"You mean you don't like him?"

"Well I do, but I kind of like Steve," Julie admitted.

"I knew it! Gosh, I haven't even known you that long and I can already read ya like a book. Not that I've actually ever read a book," Tammy laughed.

"Just don't tell him! I mean, I do have to work with him every day and it'd be kind of awkward if he knew how I felt."

"Well how bout I get Soda away for a little bit and give you some alone time with Steve," Tammy suggested.

"Just don't make it too obvious."

Tammy grabbed Julie arm and pulled her back to the truck. She gave Steve the finger and looked at Soda, "Do you think you could come with me to get some, uh, popcorn?"

Soda looked at Julie for approval and she nodded her head. Soda climbed out of the truck so Steve moved to sit up in the driver's seat next to Julie.

"She's just a little upset, ya know," Julie said to Steve.

"I don't know why…I was just watchin' the movie."

"Well she knows that now. I made sure she understood."

"Oh really? What did you tell her?"

"Well pretty much what you already told her, just without yelling at her," she laughed.

"Why'd you say yes to him?" Steve asked casually.

"Soda? Well after we kissed, I couldn't exactly say no."

"You guys kissed? When did this happen?" Steve was confused about this because Soda hadn't said anything about them kissing.

"Last Saturday. I thought he would've told you?"

"Well he didn't," Steve snapped.

"Oh…so why'd you ask Tammy out?"

"I guess I figured I should have a date for a Friday night and the girl I was gonna ask was already taken so I chose Tammy."

"Who's the girl you wanted to ask?" Julie asked curiously.

"No one. It doesn't matter anymore."

"Oh," was all she said.

"We're back! And we have food!" Tammy sang as she and Soda walked back over to the truck.

While Soda and Steve were getting situated in the truck Tammy leaned over to Julie and asked, "So…how'd it go?"

"Not very well," Julie whispered back. _Not very well at all…now I like him even more,_ she thought.


	6. Chapter 6

Love Smells like gasoline

A/N: Again this chapter belongs to GreaserGirlie

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to S E Hinton, any original characters belong to GreaserGirlie

"Thanks for the ride, Soda," Tammy winked at him as she got out of his truck. Steve rolled his eyes and followed her. After Julie moved to the front things got awkward. It was silent in the truck as they both said absolutely nothing until they got to Julie's house. They sat for a minute before Julie spoke.

"I had a good time, Soda…thanks."

"Glad you had fun. Maybe we could do it again sometime? Like next Friday night?" Soda was hopeful that she would say yes. He thought things had gone good on their date, but he discovered things hadn't gone as well as he thought.

"Um, I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Don't get me wrong; you're a sweet guy and all, but I just don't think it'd work out between us. I mean that kiss was…a spur of the moment thing. I guess I was upset about those guys and you were so sweet, I just got caught up in the moment. You understand right?" Julie felt awful for turning him down, but she knew she couldn't lead him on. Soda didn't understand what he'd done wrong, but she said she didn't want to and that was it.

"Yeah I understand," he sighed, "But can we still be friends? I'd hate to lose you completely."

"Of course we can." She said goodnight and got out of the car. He watched her walk up to her house and shut the front door behind her. It was very unusual for Soda to get turned down by a girl. But what made matters worse was that he really liked Julie. He hadn't felt that way about a girl before, except for Sandy of course. The thought of Sandy came back to him and he wiped the tears away.

* * *

><p>He drove home and walked straight to his room. But before he could make it to his bedroom, Darry stopped him.<p>

"What's the matter with you?" Darry questioned.

"The date didn't go so well," Soda answered. Darry was shocked, considering his little brother's impressive record with the girls.

"Really?"

"Well the actual date was good, but when I asked her if she wanted to go out again she said no."

"Well then she's not worth it, little buddy," Darry tried to cheer him up.

"You don't get it, Dar. But whatever, it's over with and we're still friends so I guess that's good."

"Good way to think, Soda. You'll have to bring her over though so I can at least meet her."

"Maybe Steve can bring her over, I don't wanna risk her telling me no," Soda said bitterly.

"Now don't be like that. Go on to bed, you look pretty tired." Darry ruffled Soda's hair and sent him off to bed. Soda gave him a smile before walking to his and Pony's room.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile at Julie's house…<p>

Julie walked in and her mother was sitting at the kitchen table with her reading glasses on and a newspaper on the table.

"Hi sweetie! How was the date?" her mother asked excitedly.

"Oh well, it was okay. I'm not going out with him again though," Julie answered.

"What? Why not? He seems like a nice boy and quite handsome too."

"Yes I know he's nice and cute, but he's just not really my type, mom."

"No you're right I suppose, he certainly is not your type. Although, that boy Steve does seem to be your type, right?" Julie's mom tried so hard to be close with her daughter so Julie felt like she could talk to her mother about anything. Julie thought for a moment before answering her mother.

"I guess," her simple answer brought a smile to her mother's face, "Now don't get all goofy, mom. He's just a friend…for now anyways. Well I'm goin' to bed. Night!" Julie quickly made her way up to her room before her mom could say anything else.

_Julie's Dream_

"_You look real pretty, Julie," Steve told her as they sat together under the stars._

"_Thanks, I try to look my best for a date, ya know."_

"_Well you do a great job with it." Steve leaned over to make his move so Julie leaned in too. It seemed like forever when they were finally almost to the kiss._

_End of Short Little Dream_

"Julie! It's time to get up!" a voice rang in Julie's ear.

"Ugh, mom it's too early," Julie complained as she rolled over to look at her clock. 11:34. _Oh, _she thought, _I guess it's not too early. _She thought for a minute about the dream she was so unfortunately pulled out of. She was dreaming about kissing Steve or almost kissing Steve anyways, which had to be a bad sign. Julie got out of bed and walked slowly down the stairs.

"It's about time, sleepy head! What dream were you having that was keepin' you asleep, hmm?" Julie's mom questioned.

"It was such a weird dream…"

"What was it about?"

"Um, well…Steve."

"Ooh, dreaming about Mr. Mechanic?" her mother gave a small laugh at what she would call a joke.

"Oh my god. Do not call him that!" she blushed.

"Well what exactly went on in this wonderfully weird dream?"

"Uh, well…it was just weird. Anyways what did you get me up for?"

"I'm going to run a few errands and I was wondering if you wanted to come along?"

"I really don't feel like it. I was just gonna walk around and explore the town a little bit," Julie lied. She was just planning on being lazy all day.

"Well okay then. Just be careful," her mother warned.

"Yeah, yeah. You tell me that all the time," Julie rolled her eyes. After her mother left, she took a shower and got changed. She went along with the boring day and relaxed a little.

* * *

><p>Julie managed to avoid Soda until Monday, when she didn't have a choice. She went to school, but didn't see Steve there. She assumed he had just skipped for the day. The day went by pretty fast and then she dreaded going to the DX for work. Before she left she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror to make sure she looked okay. She had on a pair of white shorts with a pink tank top. Her hair was in a braid and she had her boots on. Her wardrobe wasn't the smartest choice because of the white shorts but she didn't feel like going all the way home to change. She left school and began walking. Not too long after she'd begun walking she heard a voice shout for her.<p>

"Julie!" she turned around to see Two-Bit and a boy she didn't recognize. He had brown hair and icy blue eyes. He was taller than Two-Bit and was smoking a cigarette.

"Well hi there Two-Bit and you are?" she spoke to the boys.

"This is Dally. Dal, this is Julie," Two-Bit introduced the two.

"Dally? That short for somethin'?" Julie asked.

"Yeah, Dallas," Dally answered with a bit of hostility.

"Hmm, nice name, Dallas."

"Call me Dally, if you know what's good for you."

"Jeez, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

"Well anyways, I heard a rumor 'bout you and Soda. That true?" Two-Bit changed the subject so he wouldn't have to rip Dally off of Julie.

"Depends what the rumor says," Julie replied. They started walking again and Julie ended up in between the two boys.

"Well from what I've heard, you two are datin'."

"Then you need to find a new rumor source, 'cause that ain't true."

"Oh really? So you two didn't go on a date last Friday?"

"Well, we did. But it's not like we're **dating**. It was one date, Two-Bit."

"Well one date can lead to more, can it not?"

"It can, but in this case it won't," Julie informed him.

"You like Stevie don't ya?"

"No I do not. I just don't want to go out with Soda."

"Fine, fine…well here we are." Julie looked up and realized that they'd arrived at the DX. _Great, just where I want to be, _Julie said in her head.

"Hey man," Soda greeted Two-Bit as he was the first one he saw, "Oh hey Dal…Julie."

"Hi Soda," Julie tried to sound as if she wasn't uncomfortable with the situation, but she most certainly was.

"What are you guys doin' here?" Soda asked the group.

"Well Julie was just beggin' to come down here so we just couldn't say no to her," Two-Bit lied. Julie wanted to smack him right there, but she couldn't.

"Two-Bit, it's not like I wanted to come down here. I kind of have a job, ya know."

"That job don't start till four though."

"Oh you caught me, I'm just dying to come here and see Soda…makes so much sense," Julie retorted sarcastically.

"Hey what are you guys doin here?" Steve came out from the garage. His shift started a half hour before Julie's so he had already got to working on a few cars. Julie laughed when she saw him; he had a smudge of grease from one the cars on his forehead and across his left cheek.

"What are laughin' about this time?" Steve asked her.

"You have grease all over your face, Steve." She grabbed the rag out his back pocket and gently wiped his face. She slowly lowered the rag and looked into his eyes, "There ya go."

"Thanks." He stuck the rag back in his pocket without breaking his stare.

"Excuse me? Mr. and Mrs. Randle, if you could just join us back over here?" Two-Bit's voice broke them out of the stare. Julie blushed while Steve sent a nasty glare to Two-Bit.

"Oh there are some people, I should probably take care of them," Soda spoke up. He walked out to one of the pumps. Julie sighed as he walked out; she could tell he was still upset about the date.

"Well look at those girls. Come on man we're gonna be gettin' lucky tonight," Two-Bit said as he and Dally left to talk to a few blondes who had just driven up to the DX.

"What's with you and Soda?" Steve asked.

"You mean he didn't tell you?"

"Said he didn't wanna talk about it."

"Oh well…after he drove me home, he asked me out again and I sort of said no." Steve was happy to hear that Julie was free, but quickly realized that this meant she was off limits to him. Soda and Steve had always had a best friend/ girl policy. If one of them broke up with a girl, the girl was off limits to the other. So technically Julie was off limits to Steve.

"Oh…hey can you help me with a car out in the garage?"

"Aw man…I was hoping I wouldn't have to fix much today! I'm wearing white shorts," Julie whined.

"Oh come on, you'll be fine." he practically dragged her into the garage and to a car.

"You want me to help fix this piece of crap?" Julie questioned.

"I know it ain't the best, but it's damn tricky, I'll tell you that."

"Are you an actual mechanic or what?"

"Excuse me? I'm the best mechanic in this town," Steve stated.

"Not anymore, buddy," Julie smirked at Steve as she looked for the problem in the car. She felt a hand slap her butt and she whirled around to come face to face with a smirking Steve.

"Looks like I got your little outfit all dirty," he laughed. He knew he was taking a big chance with that because of the whole Soda case but it was just a little innocent flirting. She got closer to him, to the point where their faces were closer than before and she gave a sneaky smile.

"Oh Stevie, you shouldn't have done that." She lifted her hand, which was dripping with blue paint and smeared it all over Steve's face.

"No, you shouldn't have done _that_," Steve said as he reached for the same paint can that Julie had gotten the paint from. He grabbed a handful of the blue paint and threw it at her.

"Steve!" Julie squealed, "I'm gonna kill you!" She found another can of paint and inside was a gooey red paint. She looked down to dip her hand inside the paint and when she looked back up more paint was splattered on her. She looked down at her now blue outfit and back up at Steve who looked very proud of himself. She grabbed an even bigger handful of the red paint and threw it at him. She then tackled him and smeared the blue and red paint all over his face and in his hair. After that, she started laughing and couldn't stop. She thought Steve looked hilarious with all the paint on him.

"You look so ridiculous right now," she managed to tell him in between her laughter.

Steve loved the sound of her laughter as she lay on top of him with blue paint splattered all over her face and clothes. He couldn't help but wonder what this would look like to a total stranger.

"I look ridiculous? Look at you! You've got paint all over yourself." She only laughed more and had to wipe a few tears that were falling from her eyes. She hadn't laughed like that since her dad died and it felt good.

"What did I tell you two about foolin' around in here!" Brian's voice came from the doorway to the garage. Julie looked at Brian than back to Steve and realized what it must have looked like. She got off of him and sat next to him on the ground. "And what the hell have you two been doin' with that paint!"

"Oh well um, you see it was just an innocent paint fight," Julie tried to get Brian to understand.

"Just go get cleaned up," he replied. Once he saw Julie walk past him he asked, "Now you're tryin' to tell me that you two weren't foolin' around?"

"I already told you, we are just friends!" Julie said a little too loudly. Steve held back his laughter as he saw what Brian was talking about.

"Well then where did that handprint on your ass come from?" Brian asked her.

Julie twisted herself around to see the black handprint on her butt and felt her cheeks get hot.

"Oh…well…you see…it's all Steve's fault!"

"My fault?"

"Yes, your fault! You're the one who had to go and do this!" she yelled, pointing to her butt.

"Just go get cleaned up," Brian ordered them. Steve and Julie both walked out of the garage to the bathroom, but were stopped midway.

"What the hell happened to you two!" Two-Bit laughed.

"Nothing!" Julie and Steve both shouted at him. They continued to walk to the bathrooms to wash up.

* * *

><p>"Did you guys see the handprint on her butt?" Two-Bit asked Dally and Soda.<p>

"Yeah. You think that's Steve's?" Soda questioned. He knew Steve wouldn't do that to him...

"Who else's would it be?" Dally joined the conversation.

"Man, that guy sure works quick." Two-Bit and Dally continued to joke about it, but Soda thought about if Steve was messin' around with Julie.

"God, I think I got all that paint out," Julie sighed happily as she walked back over to the guys.

"Still got some in your hair," Steve commented as he joined them. Julie held out her hand for Steve to give her the towel he was using and she turned to throw them in the garage. The minute she did this she heard a lot of laughter from behind her.

"What's up with you two?" she asked Dally and Two-Bit.

"Nothin'…it's just you got this big ole handprint on your butt and there's only one person it could belong to…" Two-Bit answered.

"Oh shut up! We weren't doin' anything. Steve was just bein' stupid."

"I wasn't the one who started it," Steve retorted.

"You just had to smack my butt, didn't you?" she ignored him.

"You thought you were a better mechanic than me! I had to teach you a lesson."

"And you couldn't have done that any other way?"

"If you don't mind my thoughts, Julie, I do believe Stevie here chose to smack your butt because he likes you," Two-Bit doubled over from laughter and Steve looked away. He knew it was true, but he didn't need Julie knowing that.

Julie wondered if what Two-Bit said was true. Steve looked away and didn't say anything, which was usually a dead giveaway for someone trying to hide something that had just been exposed.

"Aw Stevie, you got a crush on me?" Julie played along to see what kind of reaction she could get out of Steve.

"Ain't it time for you to get ready for your shift?" Steve avoided her question.

"I suppose, but first you gotta answer my question." They all waited for Steve to say something, but he never did. He just walked back into the garage.

"Man, this sure is a crazy place. Might get myself a job here!" Two-Bit joked. Soda laughed for the first time since that whole conversation had started. Julie and Soda made quick eye contact and Julie offered a smile. Soda being Soda, he smiled back. He knew nothing could happen between them, but did that mean something could happen between her and Steve?


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: S.E. Hinton owns the Outsiders and Katy Perry owns Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)

Steve. Steve. Steve. Steve was literally all I thought about. Every day at school, I would sit in class and doodle little hearts on my notebook. Usually I had his name inside the heart, which wasn't exactly the brightest thing to do considering he sat right next to me for history. I was busy doodling away one morning when Steve almost caught me.

"What are you writin'?" he asked.

"Just, uh, some notes…" I answered.

"Really? 'Cause we're supposed to be reading about World War l."

"Oh…yeah I knew that." I felt so stupid! He tried to see what I was writing again, but I blocked as many of the hearts as I could with my hand.

"What are you tryin' to hide, huh?" he inquired.

"I ain't hidin' anything. I just think you need to mind your own business."

"Does Tammy actually like me?" he randomly questioned.

"You should know; you are the one who likes her."

"I never said I liked her."

"You didn't have too. You can say whatever you want, but you obviously like her." All I wanted for him to confirm that he didn't like her.

"Well so what if I do? Just tell me if she likes me or not."

"No, she doesn't, Steve. And would you like to know why? Because she thinks you're a jerk." I hadn't meant it to be so mean, but I was a little upset because he liked Tammy.

"Do you think I'm a jerk?" I was happy to hear the bell ring and everyone started walking out of the classroom. Steve seemed to still be waiting for an answer, but the teacher called me up to see him.

"Ms. Davidson, could you please come up to my desk for a minute?"

"I guess." Steve left the classroom and I felt better.

"You're failing my class," the teacher bluntly stated.

"What? How could I be failing already? I've only been here for like a month." It didn't even sound like it made any sense coming out of my mouth. To be honest, I was still a little odd because of my conversation with Steve.

"No matter the case, if you don't get your grades up soon, you'll be in this classroom for another year."

"Well, we still have a few months left, right?"

"Yes, so I suggest you start studying now if you would like to do well on the finals."

"I'm not really into the whole studying thing…" I hated studying with a passion; it was boring and I could never read about history for too long.

"Maybe you should get a tutor then."

"Well who's the smartest in this class? Might as well get the best I can."

"Let's see," he looked over his grade book and laughed a bit, "Seems as though, Mr. Randle has been doing very well in this class."

"Oh great…well I guess I'll talk to him."

Steve's POV

I waited for Julie to come out of the classroom so I could walk her to her next class like I usually did. I leaned against the lockers and started to think. Julie didn't know it, but I'd caught a glimpse of what she'd been writing in her notebook; a heart with the letters S and J inside of it. I knew that the J stood for Julie, but what I couldn't figure out was what the S stood for. It could've been for Soda or it could have been for that guy, Stanley. I'd seen her talking to him a few times so that was a possibility. One thought kept coming back to me though; the S could stand for Steve.

"Steve?" I found my way back to reality to realize that Julie was standing in front of me.

"Sorry, I was just thinkin'."

"Whoa, that's a bit dangerous don'tcha think?"

"Oh that was just hilarious. Anyways, what did the teacher have to talk to you about?"

"Well, he said I'm pretty much failing history and that I need a tutor," she looked away and then back at me, "Could you maybe help me out with that?"

"You want me to tutor you for history?" I would be happy to tutor her because that just meant I could spend more time with her.

"It'd be really great if you could," she said, giving me a smile. Oh man, how I loved those smiles.

"I guess I can," I responded. She got real excited so I decided to have some fun, "If," her smile fell as I spoke, "you go to Bucks tomorrow night." I'd tried to get her to go to Bucks a week earlier but she refused to go. She thought it would be too dirty for her liking.

"What? That is not fair Steve!"

"Just come once. Then if you don't like it, you never have to go again."

"Fine, I'll go. Just this once though." I laughed because everyone said that. No one ever went just once, though. I ruffled her hair and got her to laugh, which was good enough for me.

* * *

><p><em>Last Friday night<em>

_Yeah we danced on table tops_

_And we took too many shots_

_Think we kissed but I forgot_

Julie's POV

I really didn't want to go to Bucks tonight, but it was the only way Steve would tutor me so I had no other choice.

"Would you just hold still?" Tammy barked at me as she did my hair. She was pulling the curlers out of my hair and it hurt like hell. When I told her that I was going to Bucks she said that she would help me get ready so I looked like I actually fit in there.

"Okay now that your hair is done, it's time for make-up." She grabbed all the make-up she had and began putting it on me. I had bright red lipstick on and the mascara was laid on pretty thick.

"Here," she said, handing me a tight black mini skirt with a turquoise tube top.

"Seriously? I am not wearing this," I told her.

"Just put it on and see how you look." I threw the outfit on and looked in the mirror. I didn't look bad; in fact, I looked pretty damn good. Tammy handed me shoes that matched my shirt and we were ready to go. She drove us to Bucks' and I was a bit reluctant to get out.

"You'll be fine, Julie. Plus, Steve is in there waiting for you," she giggled.

"What if he thinks I look stupid?"

"If he thinks you look stupid than obviously something is really wrong with him."

"Alright, fine. Let's go." We got out and walked into Bucks. It was just like Steve described it; loud, crowded, and smelled like smoke and beer.

"Hey baby, can I buy you a drink?" some guy who was already drunk asked me.

"No thanks."

"What about you, beautiful?" the guy asked Tammy.

"Sure," she responded. I gave her a look that said _where the hell are you going?_ She shrugged her shoulders and left me by myself.

* * *

><p><span>Steve's POV<span>

I walked into Bucks and started looking for Julie. When I couldn't find her, I walked over to Tammy who was with some guy.

"Hey you know where Julie is?" I asked her.

"Oh hey, Steve. Nah, I don't know where she is, but who cares about her when I'm here." She was already drunk and I wasn't the least bit surprised. Tammy usually drank a lot when she came here.

"Look, Tammy, if you don't know where Julie is then I'm gonna go find her."

"Fine, go find the little slut."

"Slut?" I found it hard to believe that Julie was anything close to a slut.

"Yeah, I saw her with some guy. They looked like they were getting pretty down and dirty." She giggled and I was already annoyed. I didn't believe a word she said because she was beyond drunk. It amazed me that she could get that drunk at nine thirty. When I saw Julie I had to a double take because she did not look like the Julie I knew; she looked like a prettier version of Tammy. The other thing I noticed was the guy hanging over her. She was against the wall and the guy had his hands on either side of her. I was starting to believe Tammy was right until Julie shoved the guy. I guess he didn't really like that because he held her wrists and kissed her. This was it. This was what pissed me off the most; when some jerk took advantage of some poor girl. Except it was worse this time; Julie was the poor girl who was being hassled. I walked over to them and just as I did I heard Julie say, "What the hell is your problem? I said no so why can't you just back off!"

I pulled the guy off of her and punched him in the face. It felt good until he got up, but I was ready to fight for Julie. The guy punched me in the stomach once and then I got a good hit to the jaw. I stumbled back a little bit, but came back at him even harder. Buck finally came around and split us up because he didn't want the cops coming in to see what was going on. Julie was still leaning against the wall, eyes wide.

"Julie?" I called her name.

"Steve, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." I wiped a bit of the blood that was coming from my mouth.

"You didn't have to do that, ya know," she said looking to the floor.

"Yeah I did. I wasn't about to sit there and watch him with his hands all over you." I knew something about what I'd just said didn't sound right, but I tried to ignore it.

"You were so jealous," she claimed, walking past me. I guess she was back to normal, just in Tammy's clothes.

"You sound so sure of that," I retorted.

"That's because I am sure of it. You didn't even know if I wanted that guy to go away, but you still came over there."

"I…well…it didn't look right to me."

"Sure it didn't."

"Are you really gonna start shit with me? You didn't even say thanks." I didn't care if she said thank you or not. I was just trying to get her off of this jealousy topic.

"Fine. Thank you oh so much Steve for coming to my rescue." She batted her eyes lashes and smiled.

"I can tell that you're just sincere as can be."

* * *

><p><span>Narrator's POV<span>

Steve and Julie sat around at the bar and Steve had a beer while Julie had nothing.

"Come on Julie, just have a drink," Steve encouraged her.

"I don't need a drink to have a good time, Steve."

"Just have one or I'm not gonna tutor you."

"Fine. I'll have one drink and that's it." Julie ended up having about four beers before she did shots with Steve.

"So, so, so look J-Julie," Steve started, "I think that there is some-something I need to tell you." His words were slurred when he spoke.

"Well come on then, tell me!" Julie laughed. Whenever she got that drunk she thought everything was funny.

"Well, I really like y-you," Steve confessed.

"Aww that's so cute," Julie giggled, "I like you too, Stevie." She pulled him forward and they kissed.

* * *

><p>Soda was walking around looking for Steve to tell him that he was leaving and he could drive him home when he saw them. He saw Julie and Steve kissing and he couldn't believe his eyes. He had really trusted that Steve wouldn't go after Julie. He noticed the shot glasses on the bar counter next to Steve and Julie and figured that at least one of them or both of them were drunk. Steve got up and whispered something in Julie's ear and she giggled like mad. Soda was so pissed off he got up and left. Steve sure was lucky he'd came in his own car.<p>

* * *

><p>"I have an idea!" Julie exclaimed.<p>

"W-what is it?" Steve questioned.

"Let's go swimming!" she laughed.

"Swimming? Where the hell are we gonna go swimming?"

"In that lake…you know that one by the place with the thing." She attempted to demonstrate what she was talking about by moving her arms around, but she really wasn't demonstrating anything.

"Oh…right that one. Let's do it t-then." Steve let out a hiccup and him and Julie walked to his car. Well they stumbled around till they got to his car. Neither one of them thought about walking to the lake or getting someone else to drive them.

They had made it to the lake without crashing or getting pulled over and Julie challenged Steve to a race to see who could get to the lake first. Julie got there first, but before she could start to strip down Steve ran up beside. She started laughing, which caused him to laugh. Julie was the first to strip down so she was in her purple bra and matching underwear. Steve then stripped down to his green boxers and they both jumped off the dock. They splashed around and laughed for a while until they got close and started to kiss.

"W-wait, we havta get out or we're gonna drown," Steve said. It didn't make any sense, but Julie followed him out of the water and once again they began kissing; it was heavier this time.

* * *

><p><span>Julie's POV<span>

I woke up with a headache and the feeling of not knowing where I was. I looked around and the first thing I saw was Steve next to me with only his boxers on. I looked down at myself and realized I only had on my bra and underwear.

"What the hell…Steve," I tapped him on his shoulder in hopes that he would wake up. When he didn't, I shoved him harder, "Steve! Wake up!"

He groaned and opened his eyes. "Julie? What the hell happened?"

"I have no clue," I remembered I still didn't have my shirt or my skirt on so I stood up, "Do you remember what happened to my, well our clothes?"

"Uh, no I don't. You go look over there and I'll check over here," he told me.

* * *

><p><span>Steve's POV<span>

"Steve! Wake up!" I heard someone yell at me. I rolled over and opened my eyes to see Julie.

"Julie? What the hell happened?" I could barely remember what had happened the previous night, but all I knew was that I was only in my boxers and Julie was only in her bra and underwear. I tried to keep my eyes on her face so she wouldn't think I was a total jerk.

"I have no clue." She stood up and looked around the area we were in, "Do you remember what happened to my, well our clothes?"

"Uh, no I don't. You go look over there and I'll check over here," I told her. I stood there watching her for a moment just to see her bend over. I laughed quietly to myself and went to look for our clothes.

After a while of looking she walked back over to me, "Steve, I don't think we're gonna find our clothes anytime soon…but I did find your keys." She dangled the keys in front of my face and when I made a move to grab them she pulled them away.

"Just give me the damn keys," I demanded.

"Oh calm down, Stevie," she backed away, still dangling the keys. When she said Stevie, I suddenly remembered part of what had happened.

_Flashback_

"_So, so, so look J-Julie," I said, "I think that there is some-something I need to tell you."_

"_Well come on then, tell me!" Julie laughed._

"_Well, I really like y-you," I confessed._

"_Aww that's so cute," Julie giggled, "I like you too, Stevie."_

_End of flashback_

After that I'm pretty sure we kissed, but I wasn't about to tell Julie about that stuff. She might not have remembered and I wasn't about to bring it up again. I guessed we had been really drunk and I was just talking about things and then I told her how I felt. But she had told me she liked me too…

* * *

><p><span>Julie's POV<span>

I dangled the keys in front of Steve and laughed at the look on his face. If looks could kill, then I'd be dead.

"You do realize that we're doin' this in a public park," he reasoned. I hadn't exactly thought of that so I tossed him the keys. I followed him to his car and got in.

"Can you, um, just take me back to my place?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest.

"Sure, but I gotta stay there for a little while," he said.

"Why can't you just go home?"

"Well my dad's probably getting home right about now and I don't feel like dealin' with him."

"Well you kinda need some clothes."

"So do you," he smirked and his eyes made their way from my legs to eyes.

"I know, that's why I'm trying to go home!"

"Fine. But I still gotta stay for a while." He put his key in the ignition and began driving. Things were a bit awkward because of the whole basically naked thing. I tried to remember what had happened, but I couldn't remember a single thing. When we got to my house I saw that my mom's car wasn't there and I let out a sigh of relief; it would've been a bit tricky explaining to her why Steve and I didn't have our clothes on. I looked around to make sure no one was on the street before we both ran out of the car up to my front door. A sudden thought came into my head and I wanted to smack myself in the face for it; I didn't have my house key with me because it had been in the purse I brought to the party, which was now missing.

"Come on, you gonna open it or what?" Steve pressed.

"Funny story…I kind of…maybe…don't have my house key."

"Well now how did you plan on getting into your house without the key?"

"I didn't think of that! I was a little distracted!"

"Distracted? I mean yeah, I get confused, but distracted? What the hell were you distracted by!" I was getting upset that he was yelling at me when all I had tried to do was help so I yelled back.

"By you! You just have to look good without a shirt on, don't you!" I hadn't meant to say that, but the words were already out of my mouth. It was the truth too.

"Oh please! You think it's easy for me to stay focused when you're walkin' around lookin' like that?"

"What is that supposed to mean!"

"You got a good body!"

We were both breathing pretty heavy from the yelling and I think it took us both a minute to realize what we'd just said, or admitted rather. We just stood there for a minute before I looked away.

"Let's try my window. If we use the tree we can probably get up there and I usually keep my window unlocked."


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: S E Hinton owns all the characters in the Outsiders

Julie and Steve walked around to the tree by Julie's window. They decided Julie would climb up first and Steve would stay on the ground in case Julie fell. She protested about that, but she didn't really have a choice.

"Try not to slip," Steve warned her as she made her way up the huge tree. She looked down at him and smirked, which was a bad move because she missed the tree with her foot and lost her grip on the tree.

"Steve!" she yelled. He looked up at the last minute and caught her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him, while she was still in his arms, "Oh my god, Steve. You saved me!" He was breathing hard because he was afraid that he wouldn't catch her in time.

"That's what I'm here for," he smirked slightly and his eyes found their way to her chest, but he pulled them back up to her face.

"Oh my god, you are such an ass!" she pushed her way out of his grip and folded her arms over her chest.

"I…no you know what, Julie, I'm not an ass! It's physically impossible not to look at your boobs when you're standing there with no shirt on!"

"Well I wouldn't be shirtless if you hadn't made me drink last night!"

"Oh so you're saying it's my fault that you got drunk and decided to take your clothes off?"

"Wait…" she could vaguely remember getting into the lake with Steve, "I think I know why we don't have our clothes."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I think we went swimming in the lake."

"So we went to Bucks, drank, kissed, and swam in the lake?" Julie wasn't sure if she'd heard him right so she had to clarify.

"Kissed? We kissed?"

"Yeah I think so…" They stood there awkwardly for a few minutes before Julie spoke again.

"Um, so we should probably get inside," she climbed up the tree again, this time watching where she put her feet. She got up to her window and climbed in.

"Alright, come on up!" she shouted down to Steve. Steve got up to her window much faster than Julie had.

"I'm gonna get a shower…you can um, stay in here or whatever." Things were incredibly awkward between them now that Julie knew they had kissed. But she was relieved to know that the only reason she didn't have her clothes on was because she went swimming. Julie walked into the bathroom to take a shower and left Steve alone in her room.

* * *

><p>Steve got up and looked around Julie's room. He saw some pictures of who he assumed was her and her dad. He picked up one of the pictures and looked at it. He hadn't heard the water stop in the bathroom so he didn't realize Julie was standing in the doorway.<p>

"What are you doing?" she questioned.

"Oh, I was just lookin' at these pictures. This your dad?"

"Yeah…um, could you mind waiting out in the hallway so I can get changed?"

"No problem. Just hope your mom doesn't come home and see me like this," he pointed to his boxers.

"Don't worry, she won't. She'll be at work until like seven." Steve left her room so she could get changed. She found her light blue jean shorts, but Steve was getting impatient waiting in the hall so he knocked on her door. Julie still didn't have her shirt on, but she figured he had already seen her without a skirt or a shirt on so what did it matter.

"You can come in."

He walked in and smirked, "Did you just wanna go shirtless all the time now?"

"Well you seem to think it's a good look on me," she walked across the room to find a shirt, while Steve took a seat on her bed.

"That's because it is."

"You gotta stop," she turned to face him.

"Stop what?"

"Stop all this flirting and complementing!"

"Wait, so you're mad because I'm complementing you?"

"No, I'm just mad because you…you keep flirting with me and I can't help but feel like…" she trailed off not wanting to say what she was thinking. He got up and walked over to her and looked her in the eyes.

"Like what?"

"Like…you have feelings for me. And I don't need to be lead on."

"Julie, I do have feelings for you."

"But what about Tammy? I mean, you did ask her out."

"Only because Soda had already asked you out."

"Oh."

"Yeah," he moved closer to her and she dropped the shirt she'd been holding onto.

"Well, I…," she trailed off and Steve made his move. He pulled her close to him and kissed her. They kissed heavily and fell together onto Julie's bed. Steve was on top of Julie as he ran his hands up Julie's sides until he was close to her breasts. Steve pulled his hands back down to Julie's shorts and began to unbutton them. Julie didn't know what was wrong with her, but she didn't want to stop him. Julie let her hands roam Steve's smooth chest as he did this. Julie could feel Steve's hands travel back up to her stomach.

"Steve," Julie tried to get his attention.

"Hmm?" he asked, kissing her neck.

"I'm not…I haven't…," she didn't want to tell him about her being a virgin, but she had to.

Steve stopped to look up at her face, "What's wrong?"

"I'm a virgin."

"What?"

"Don't make me say it again."

"Well, that's fine. I don't have a condom anyways." He smirked. Julie laughed and they went back to what they'd been doing and not any further than that.

* * *

><p>Julie buttoned up her shorts and finally found a shirt to put on, while Steve remained in his boxers. He leaned back on his arms as he sat on her bed.<p>

"Do you really have to put a shirt on?" Steve asked as Julie buttoned her shirt. She stopped at the third button to the top so he could still a bit of her breasts.

"Yes, I do. Because I'm afraid if I walk around without a shirt any longer that you'll never leave," she kidded.

"You don't want me to leave." He said it as if he knew that was the truth.

"I guess you're right," she sighed and straddled his lap.

"Whoa now, take things slow."

"If you wanted to take things slow, you wouldn't have attacked me on the bed."

"Well it's not like you stopped me." He ran his hands up Julie's thigh and she put her hand on his.

"Well I'm stopping you now." She got up and finished buttoning her shirt.

Steve glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost eleven o'clock. "I can probably go home now. My dad is usually passed out by now."

"Alright, if you must."

"Well I could come back ya know," Steve told her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and she placed her hands against his chest.

"I think that would a good idea."

"I'll be back in about twenty minutes." Steve kissed her again and he used the front door this time. Julie walked downstairs and into the kitchen. She noticed a note sitting on the counter. She picked up and saw that it read :

_Julie,_

_I'm going out with a friend tonight. I probably won't be home until late. Don't wait up!_

_Love, mom._

A friend? Julie didn't know her mother had any friends in Tulsa. She shrugged the thought off and began making breakfast. She made eggs, bacon, and toast. She was getting the toast out of the toaster when she felt a pair of hands grasp her waist. She turned around quickly because she didn't know if it was Steve or not. Steve's hands felt to the counter on either side of Julie.

"Oh my god, Steve. You scared the livin' daylights out of me."

"Sorry 'bout that." He kissed her again.

She pushed him off and turned back around, "Do you want breakfast?"

"Yeah, I'm starved. Watcha makin'?"

"Eggs, bacon, and toast." She grabbed both plates of food and set them down on the table along with two glasses of orange juice.

"So…look Julie, if we're gonna do this…we can't tell anyone right now."

"You mean if we wanna actually have a relationship?" he nodded.

"Why can't we tell anyone?" Julie had been in a relationship like that before and then found out it was because the guy was cheating on his girlfriend with Julie.

"You see, Soda and I…we got this girl code thing. And since he likes you and all and you guys went out, I'm not supposed to go after ya," Steve explained.

"Technically we only went out on one date."

"I know and if he didn't like you so much it wouldn't matter."

Julie sighed in defeat. She knew she wouldn't win this with Steve, "Fine. But how long do we have to be a secret?"

"Just long enough for him to get over you."

* * *

><p><span>Monday at the DX<span>

"Hey buddy," Steve walked into the DX with Julie.

"Oh look at you two. Together again…" Soda sighed.

"What do you mean?" Julie asked.

"Oh don't try to play dumb guys, I saw you on Friday night at Bucks."

"Oh…Soda we were totally drunk. I mean we don't even know what happened that night," Julie told Soda.

"Really?"

"Yes. Nothing is going on between us." She looked at Steve and he nodded his head.

"Sorry then. I didn't mean to get so upset about it…" Soda realized he'd just made a fool of himself in front of Julie.

"It's alright," Julie smiled flirtatiously at Soda and walked into the garage.

"Well I better get to workin' on those cars," Steve said as he followed Julie into the garage.

"Hey, what the hell was all that?" Steve asked Julie.

"What was what?"

"All that smiling and flirting with him."

"I would hardly call that flirting. You wanna see flirting? I'll show ya flirting." She walked over to a group of guys who had just pulled up in front of the garage.

"Hey doll, what can I do for ya?" she asked the driver. She leaned into his window so her shirt was hanging down a little.

"Well I can think of a whole buncha things you can do for me."

"Oh really now?"

"Alright that's enough. You've proved your point. Now go back into the garage," Steve directed Julie.

"You're such a party pooper," Julie teased and she walked back into the garage. She made sure to swing her hips a little extra just for Steve.

"Damn. That girl's sure got it all," the driver of the car commented.

"What do you need?" Steve asked him.

"That hot little thing to come on back over here."

"Well she ain't gonna come back, so if you actually need something speak up."

"Somethin's wrong under the hood, so if you just fix it up grease." Steve took a closer look and saw that the guy was a Soc.

"Fine. I'll take a look at it."

"Good maybe while you're takin' a look at the car, I'll take a look at her." He looked over at Julie who was looking at a car.

"On second thought, get the hell out of here."

"You ain't gonna fix my car?"

"Naw. You and your Soc buddies can find somewhere else to go." The Socs drove off and Steve walked back into the garage with a scowl on his face.

"Is someone jealous?" Julie laughed.

"I ain't got nothin' to be jealous of."

"You sure about that?"

"Why? Do you think I should be jealous?"

"Well, I'm not the type of girl to stick around very long…"

"Like hell you aren't. I'm keepin' you." He pulled her over to him and she let out a loud laugh before she kissed him.

"What's goin' on in here?" Brian came into the garage.

Julie quickly pulled away from Steve, "Oh uh nothin'."

Brian walked over to the secret couple and looked at both of them, "I don't believe you."

"Well I don't know why," Steve told him.

"I don't believe you because I just saw you two kissin'."

"What? We were not kissing, "Julie defended her and Steve.

"I'm keepin' my eye on you two," Brian warned before walking back to his office.

"That was close," Julie sighed.

"Julie! There's some guy here for ya," Soda called from the front. Steve followed Julie as she sprinted up to the counter.

"Stanley?" Julie walked over to the guy.

"Hi, Julie. I was just wondering if you wanted to go to a party tonight?"

"Oh, um, I wish I could, but…I, I have a study session with Steve so I can't."

"You do?" Soda and Stanley both asked at the same time.

"Well yeah. He's gonna help me with history so…"

"Oh well…there's another party on Friday…"

"I…uh…I," Julie looked to Steve for help and he shrugged because he couldn't say that she was going on a date with him or Soda would freak out, "I kinda have something to do."

"Oh I see…if you didn't want to go out with me then why didn't you just say so?" he walked out of the DX and Julie felt really bad about lying to him, but she couldn't tell him the truth.

"Why don't you wanna go out with him?" Soda questioned.

"He's…uh, not my type," Julie answered quickly and she returned back to the garage.

* * *

><p>Steve cocked his head to the side as he checked Julie out. She had on a pair of shorter shorts and he thought she looked pretty good in them.<p>

"What the hell are you doing?" Soda asked.

"Huh?"

"You just checked her out."

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did. I thought nothin' was goin' on between you two?"

"Nothin' is goin on, man. You know I wouldn't do that to ya," Steve lied. He hated having to lie to Soda, but he really wanted Julie.

"Yeah…okay."

Steve walked back into the garage and Soda leaned over the counter watching Steve walk up to Julie and say something. She smiled and took his hand in hers. A car pulled up and they each went to different cars. Soda knew Steve was lying and he wasn't gonna let him away with it.

* * *

><p><span>Later that night<span>

"Hey Evie," Soda talked into the phone at his house.

"Soda? What is it?"

"Well it's Steve. He's been missin' ya like crazy. Says he's gonna drive into the lake if you don't come back to visit."

"Really? Oh my god, okay I'll be down to visit soon! Don't tell him I'm coming though, we can make it a surprise!" Evie said excitedly.

"Sounds great!" Soda hung up the phone with a smile. He usually wasn't this devious, but Steve had taken Julie from him, and then lied about it; it was time for at least a little payback.

* * *

><p>"So those guys attacked these guys?" Julie asked Steve as they sat on her bed looking at the history book in Steve's hands.<p>

"No. They're fighting on the same side."

"Oh, so why are they even shooting at that guy."

"They're not! Julie, you really don't get this do you?"

"No I don't," she sighed and looked at him. He shook his head and smiled and then kissed her.

"Julie did-oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that this was what was going on up here," Julie's mom intruded on Steve and Julie.

"Mom…uh, well we were studying," Julie looked down to the ground because she hadn't told her mother about her and Steve.

"Studying what? Each other's lips?"

"No, we were studying the war and then I got frustrated and well then that's where you came in."

"Julie can I talk to you for minute?"

"Sure," she turned to Steve, "I'll be right back."

* * *

><p>Once they were outside of Julie's room, her mother began yelling, "Julie! How am I supposed to trust you two alone?"<p>

"You can, mom! We weren't doing anything, but kissing. I swear!"

"Since when are you two together anyways?"

"Since Saturday…"

"Just promise me that you guys aren't having sex."

"Oh my god, mom no we aren't." It wasn't a lie; they had just come really close to it.

"Good. But, when you do and I know that you will, just promise me you'll be safe?"

"Of course we will. Now can I please get back to studying?"

"Sure…in the living room."

"What? Why can't we stay up here?" Julie knew that was a stupid question but she asked it anyways.

"Because I know you won't actually be studying." Julie rolled her eyes and went to get Steve. She pulled him downstairs and they sat on the couch. Now that they weren't in Julie's room anymore, they actually had to focus on history.

_I hate this so much_, Julie thought to herself…


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: S E Hinton owns all the characters in the Outsiders

It was raining hard outside and Julie was trying to wait out the storm so she didn't get soaked. She leaned against the blue lockers that stood in a row before the doors and looked around to see that she was the only person in the hallway. _Some great boyfriend I have,_ she thought to herself. She couldn't believe Steve hadn't shown up to school that day, but she would talk to him when she got to the DX. She played with the ring attached to her gold necklace around her neck and sighed. Steve had asked her to officially be his girl a few days after they made-out on her bed. She couldn't wear the ring on her finger because someone, like Soda especially, would know she was going steady with Steve. She took one more look outside and decided that the rain wasn't going to let up so she grabbed her bag and walked out of school. She really wished that she could've taken up Two-Bit's offer to take her to the DX, but she had to talk to a teacher about some extra credit. It was pouring and Julie's clothes were already sticking to her and she hoped no one would comment about that.

When Julie finally made it to the DX she ran into the store as fast as she could without falling on her butt. Steve was speaking to Soda about something and it didn't look like a very friendly conversation. Julie stood there tapping her foot so she could get Steve's attention. He finally looked over and raised his eyebrows.

"Why're you all wet?" he questioned. He knew it was from the storm, but he also knew Julie wasn't going to explode on him with people around.

"Why am I all wet? Why do you think I'm all wet!" she yelled. Apparently he was wrong about her not wanting to yell in front of other people.

"Right…the rain. Well why didn't you just get a ride from Two-Bit?"

"Because I had some things to take care of and he wasn't willing to wait. But that doesn't matter because he wasn't the one who was supposed to be giving me a ride!"

"Look, I can't always be there to give ya a ride," Steve retorted, putting on the act of not being with Julie in front of Soda.

"I need to talk to you," Julie informed him. She pulled him into the garage and shut the door that separated the store from the garage. She didn't even care that Soda was growing very suspicious of what was going on.

* * *

><p>"Where were you today?" Julie questioned as soon as the door closed all the way.<p>

"I…just had to do some stuff," he responded. He looked away because he knew if he looked at Julie he would end up telling her the truth and he couldn't afford to do that.

"Some stuff? Like what?" Julie tried to keep her voice down.

"Just some stuff, alright?"

"Why can't you just tell me the truth?" Julie was getting upset now that Steve wouldn't just tell her what he'd been doing. She didn't want to be one of those clingy girlfriends, but she did want to go why Steve was beating around the bush.

"Because I can't, Julie! If I tell you what I was doing, then-" he was cut off by an elongated beep outside of the garage.

"Julie! Hey, I was hoping I could catch you here," a boy, whom Steve didn't know ran into the garage.

"Derrick? What are you doing here?" she asked. _Oh no, not Derrick Minch, _Steve groaned inwardly; Derrick was known for getting his way with just about every girl in school.

"Well our conversation earlier made me think about whether or not I was in the wrong and I decided I was. When I told Carly that, she still flipped out and dumped me."

"Oh my gosh, Derrick I'm so sorry!" Julie felt awful for talking to Derrick about his relationship issues earlier that day in math because she'd just ruined a relationship.

"Yeah, well she was a bitch anyways," he smiled. Steve stood against the wall with him arms folded and watched this strange exchange carry on.

"I have to agree with that. But what are you gonna do about the dance now?" The principal had decided to give the sophomores a dance because everyone else got one.

"Well, that's kind of why I'm here…I was wondering if you wanted to go with me." Julie wanted to say no, but who was she supposed to go with? Would Soda be over her by then? Could Steve and Julie go to the dance as a couple?

"You know what, let me get back to you on that one," she told him. She didn't want to outright reject him, but she couldn't decide then and there.

"Well alright. I gotta get goin', but try and let me know by the day of the dance?" he chuckled a bit and it made Steve sick that he was trying to get _his_girl to go to the dance with him.

"Sure thing."

Derrick took off in his beat up, black Thunderbird and that's when Steve decided to question Julie about him.

"What was that about?"

"Oh nothin'. Just gave him some bad advice about a girl, I guess."

"You ain't gonna go to the dance with him right?"

"Well…I don't know. I mean, are you taking me?"

Steve thought hard before he answered her question; for fear that we would answer wrong. He finally came to a decision and replied, "Yes, I am."

"Well, what are people gonna say? Someone's gonna notice and Soda will probably find out," Julie reasoned.

"Then he finds out. It's about time he knew anyways."

"Are you saying that we can go public with this relationship?" Julie grinned.

"I guess I am." Julie hugged Steve and took the ring off her necklace and slipped it onto her middle finger on her right hand.

* * *

><p>Soda knew something was weird about how Julie acted toward Steve when she walked in, but he couldn't place it. Not that he cared so much anymore; he'd come to accept that she wasn't going to go out with him. As he waited there for them to finish up whatever it was they were doing, his mind drifted to the conversation he was having with Steve before Julie got there. According to Steve, Evie had dropped by his house the previous night to see him and he tried to tell her to go, but she wouldn't listen. She ended up staying over his place and they shared a bottle of what Steve thinks was whiskey. Steve swore that nothing else happened, but he did wake up to see that Evie had slept in his bed with him. They both had such bad hangovers that Steve skipped school. Soda apologized for doing that to him and Steve didn't take it well when he found out that it was Soda's fault. Soda snapped back to reality when Steve and Julie came back into the store holding hands. Soda noticed this immediately and brought it up.<p>

"Why are you two holdin' hands?" Soda figured being forward about it was the best way to go.

"Soda, remember how you thought there was somethin' goin' on between us?" Julie slowly questioned.

"Yeah…"

"Well, you were right. There is somethin' goin' on between us."

"What? And you guys just lied to me about it?" Soda didn't mean to come off as angry as he did, but he was just so surprised.

"Soda, come here for a minute," Julie ordered. He walked over to her and she led him a bit farther away from Steve. "Look, we didn't tell you because I know how you felt about me and I didn't wanna see you get hurt."

"Thanks, I guess… No, I really do mean thank you. Ever since sandy, I've just been real cautious about girls and I guess you were just the first one that was genuinely kind. And you are cute so," Soda laughed. Julie was happy to hear the Soda that she'd met and not the moody, suspicious one that'd been hanging around the past few weeks.

"Well thank you, Soda. Maybe you should try something with Tammy," Julie suggested.

"Ya think? She ain't just gonna sleep around one me?" Julie felt her heart break a little at the fact that he felt he needed to ask that.

"No, I think she really likes you. Not just for your looks either."

"Maybe I will then." Julie hugged Soda and he gave her a tight hug back. They walked back over to Steve and Julie could sense the awkwardness between Soda and Steve. She wasn't sure what it was about, but she didn't need to know at that moment.

"So uh, how long have you two been together?" Soda was curious to know how long they had been keeping this secret.

"About three weeks," Steve answered with a drop of resentment.

"Wow. You guys are pretty good secret keepers."

"Well I know Steve is," Julie said quietly, but loud enough for Steve and Soda to hear.

"What's wrong now?" Steve asked.

"Nothing. I would just like to know why you can't tell me the truth."

"If I tell you, you're gonna get upset and I don't need you yellin' at me."

"She talkin' bout' the Evie situation?" Soda suspected dumbly. He really thought that, that might have been what they were talking about in the garage.

"Evie situation? What is he talkin' about?" Julie looked at Steve.

"It's no big deal, okay? She came back to visit and I talked to her; end of story."

"For some reason, I think you're lyin'." Julie knew all about Steve and Evie's history so if Evie was back in town, Steve would most likely meet up with her. Julie had expected that much, but what happened after that is what she was afraid of.

"I ain't lyin'. We talked and that's it."

"Fine. Don't tell me the truth; see if I give a damn." Julie stalked angrily into the garage and Steve knew he should have told her the truth.

* * *

><p>"Thanks a lot, Soda," Steve remarked. He wasn't sure if Soda had said anything about Evie on purpose or not.<p>

"Man, I'm sorry. I thought that's what she was talkin' about. I didn't mean to get ya in trouble."

"It's okay. Just don't let somethin' like that happen again, ya hear?" Steve half joked, half warned Soda.

"Yeah, yeah I gotcha." Soda rolled his eyes and Steve was happy that they were back to what they were before Julie entered their lives.

"Can you believe Derrick Minch tried to get Julie to go to the dance with him?" Steve asked.

"Derrick Minch? You better keep an eye on him, buddy," Soda truthfully responded. He knew just as well as Steve did that Derrick was not a guy to be trusted.

"Don't worry, I will. Ain't no way in hell he's takin' my girl from me."

"I believe that!" They both laughed and Steve told Soda he had to go back into the garage before Brian came out and fired him. Soda felt good about him and Steve patching things up, but he couldn't help but feel like somethin' didn't sound right about the Derrick situation. Soda didn't want to get involved, though, because it'd probably only cause trouble for himself. Plus, he didn't have any business sticking his nose in that relationship.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: S E Hinton owns all the characters in the Outsiders

"Julie, can you stop ignoring me?" Steve pleaded as he followed Julie down the hallway going to fourth period. Julie kept walking and didn't bother responding, "Come on, Jules, I told you the truth."

"How am I supposed to believe you, when there are rumors flying all over the place?" Julie questioned. Steve could see the fury in her eyes, but he could also see the tears glistening.

"Why do you believe them? Is my word not enough?"

"I don't know! You say that nothing happened, but every other person I talk to says that they heard about what happened between you two!" Rumors had been flying around that Steve and Evie were back together because they slept together, which Steve was desperately trying to stop.

"Nothing happened! We talked, that is it!" Steve knew he was lying to her, but he didn't want her to know what had actually happened. He didn't want anyone to know what had actually happened.

"So she didn't stay over?" Steve realized that he'd been caught; well not completely but partially caught.

"Well…," Steve started, but he wasn't sure what to tell her.

"That's what I thought, you jerk!" she began to walk away, but Steve stopped her.

"Wait, Julie, don't walk away. I'll tell you what really happened…Evie came over and said she wanted to get back together, but I told her that we couldn't. She seemed to accept it, but she just wouldn't leave and we ended up opening a bottle of whiskey."

"Oh my god."

"Wait, there's uh, more…well after that we must have fallen asleep 'cause when I woke up she… she was passed out on the couch. I had a bad hangover and that's why I didn't go to school the other day." Steve just couldn't do it; he couldn't tell Julie the truth.

"So that's all that happened?"

"That is all that happened." Steve held his breath, waiting for Julie's response and he was met with a kiss. Julie wrapped her arms around Steve's neck and he moved his hands to her waist and any area close to that. Julie didn't know why she kissed him, but she couldn't stand to do anymore talking. Her back was against the lockers and his hand was halfway up the back of her shirt. The bell rang, alerting them that they were now late for fourth period.

"Steve, we should…we should go," Julie said as Steve kissed her neck.

"Then let's go; back to my place," Steve suggested.

"No."

"Why not?" Steve whined. They still hadn't had sex yet and Steve was getting impatient.

"You know why. Now stop being such a baby and get to class." Julie pushed Steve away gently and fixed her shirt.

"When?" Steve asked.

"I don't know…," Julie replied, looking at the ground and leaning against the lockers.

"I'm not tryin' to rush ya."

"I know," she sighed, "Soon."

"Soon?"

"If you're lucky."

"Well I plan on getting very lucky," Steve joked.

"You're an ass, Steve Randle."

"I know." Julie kissed him one more time before walking to class. Steve sighed and turned around to go to his class. He was almost there when he was pulled into the girl's bathroom.

"What the hell, Evie? What are you doin' here?" Steve inquired, looking around to make sure there were no girls in there.

"Relax, no one else is in here," Evie replied, "I just wanted to come see you. We didn't get to talk much after what happened."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Steve tried to play dumb.

"I think you know exactly what I'm talking about." Evie kissed Steve hard and he kissed back for about two minutes.

"Wait, wait. I can't do this; I have a girlfriend."

"So? She doesn't have to know. I'm only here for another week so you better get what you can while you can."

"Evie, look I really like Julie and I just can't keep doing this to her."

"Doing what?" Evie asked. She walked over to the door and locked it, assuring Steve that if they did anything no one would know, "This?" She ran her hand from his chest down to his belt and Steve knew he was in trouble.

"Y-yeah," Steve gulped, "That." He tried to clear his thoughts, but his belt was undone and Evie was kissing him once again. From there, Steve's mind was in a haze.

* * *

><p>Julie got out of class and made her way to the parking lot to meet Steve and the other guys. She saw Two-Bit, Johnny, and Ponyboy, but no Steve.<p>

"Hey, guys, where's Steve?" she asked.

"We don't know. We figured he was with you," Two-Bit answered.

"Oh well I don't know where he is." Julie looked around until her eyes feel upon Steve who was walking toward them. His hair was a bit of a mess and his clothes needed to be fixed.

"Hey," was all he said as he came up to them.

"What happened to you?" Julie questioned.

"Huh?" Steve took a look at his clothes and realized that he hadn't taken any time to fix himself up after what'd he'd done with Evie, "Oh, I uh, got in a fight with some guy." The lies just kept coming for Steve and he was afraid they'd never stop.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, you know me; I'm fine."

"Okay then, let's go." Julie, Johnny, and Ponyboy all got into Steve's car while Two-Bit shook his head at Steve. He had been in Steve's shoes one too many times and he knew what he'd been doing. Steve ignored him and got into the car. Two-Bit followed him and they drove to the Dingo.

When they got to the Dingo, Julie spotted Derrick sitting with a group and friends and she told the guys that she'd be right back.

"Hey Julie," Derrick greeted.

"Hi."

"Given anymore thought to the dance?"

"Well, um, I'm really sorry, but Steve and I are kind of going steady now so I can't go with you," Julie explained.

"Oh damn. Randle got to ya?"

"Yeah, but I am really sorry. You're such a sweetheart."

"Well thanks, but it's okay. I just hope I can get a girl as pretty as you to go to the dance with," Derrick smiled.

"I'm sure you'll find a girl prettier than me."

"Not sure if that's possible, but I guess I'll have to try."

Julie let out a giggle and didn't know where it came from. She did think that Derrick was sweet, but that didn't matter because Steve was her boyfriend.

"Hey, babe, you okay?" Steve asked as he came up behind Julie and wrapped his arms around her waist protectively and kissed her cheek. Julie smiled because Steve had done himself good by proving he could be just as sweet.

"Oh yeah, I'm good. I was just talking to Derrick about the dance."

"You tell him you can't go with him?"

"Yup."

"You're a lucky guy, Randle," Derrick commented.

"So I've been told."

"Better take care of her or you just might lose her."

"To who? You?" Steve snorted.

"Maybe." Derrick had seen Steve go into the girl's bathroom and he had also seen both him and Evie walk out.

"That a threat, Minch?"

"So what if it is?"

"Okay, let's go back to the booth, Steve," Julie tried to break them up, "Bye, Derrick."

Julie dragged Steve back to the other guys and they sat down. Two-Bit gave them both a questioning look, but they ignored him.

"So you two goin' to the dance together? I mean now that y'all are a couple," Two-Bit asked.

"Yeah," Julie answered. Steve put his arm around Julie and she kissed him.

"Oh get a room," Two-Bit jeered. Julie rolled her eyes and Steve laughed.

"Steve!" a voice called from the door to the Dingo. Steve was frozen because he knew who that voice belonged to; Evie, "Steve, thank god I found you!"

"Um, Evie, what are you doing here?" Steve asked. He could feel Julie's eyes on both him and Evie.

"Well…can we talk over here for a minute?"

Steve didn't dare turn to look at Julie who was probably glaring fiercely, "Yeah, sure."

Julie watched her boyfriend and his ex-girlfriend move to a corner to talk. She trusted Steve though, even with all the rumors going around. She had to trust him or she would start to get paranoid.

"That's one crazy broad," Two-Bit's laughing ripped through Julie's thoughts.

Julie didn't laugh though; she was much too busy watching Evie and Steve talk and then Evie whispered something in Steve's ear with a devilish smile. Steve looked at Evie with his eyebrows raised and then cracked a smile. She thought to herself, _there's no reason to be jealous, right?_

* * *

><p>Meanwhile Steve and Evie were discussing important things.<p>

"So what did you wanna talk about?" Steve inquired.

"My parents called me right after we…ya know…and they said that they're coming back and we're moving back to Tulsa!" she squealed.

"That's great, Evie." Steve really didn't think it was that great though. Now he would have to deal with a crazy ex-girlfriend and a probably jealous girlfriend, all the time.

"Isn't it! Now maybe we can get back to the way we were."

"I already told you that we can't."

"Because of her? Oh come on, I'm much better than her. I bet I can do things that she has never done with you."

"Like what exactly?" Steve felt stupid for asking, but he wanted to know.

"Well…," Evie whispered a few dirty things into Steve's hear and he accidentally let a smile show on his face, "Oops, I shouldn't have said those things, your girlfriend might get mad at me…oh if only she knew what else we did." Evie laughed flirtatiously and walked away to the bathroom. Steve slowly made his way back to the booth where shocked Johnny and Ponyboy, a knowing Two-Bit, and an all too nice for the moment Julie sat waiting for him.

"What did she wanna talk about?" Julie questioned. She didn't give a damn about what Evie wanted to talk about, but she had to try and play it cool.

"Just uh…some stuff…like she's moving back to Tulsa," Steve answered. Two-Bit nearly choked on his coke.

"Oh." Julie excused herself from the booth, once again and went to the bathroom.

"You're in some deep shit, man," Two-Bit noted.

"I know that, asshole," Steve groaned.

"Hey don't take out your anger on me. I ain't the one who's caused all this trouble."

* * *

><p>Julie had seen Evie walk into the bathroom after talking to Steve so she decided to follow her.<p>

"Hey you're that little bitch Steve's with, right?" Evie took notice as soon as Julie walked in.

"And you're the whore who's trying to get him back, right?" Julie retorted. Evie shoved Julie into the wall and they both started pulling each other hair.

"You little skank!" Julie screamed as she pushed Evie into the door. The door flew open and they were now fighting in front of everyone.

"Well maybe you shouldn't have taken my man!" Evie yelled back and found a glass of coke and dumped it on Julie.

"Oh my god!" Julie screeched. She punched Evie harder than she had ever punched anyone and Evie flew to the floor, crying out in pain.

"Go after Steve and I swear I'll punch you a hell of lot harder than that." Evie laughed from the floor and steadily got up.

"I've already gone after Steve and I got him. I got him real good earlier in the bathroom," Evie gloated. Julie looked to Steve for an explanation, but before he could get a word out Evie tackled Julie to the ground again.

"Okay! You two! Out of here!" the manager came running out yelling at Julie and Evie. Julie shoved Evie off of her and walked out. Steve told Two-Bit to keep Evie away from him while he tried to talk to Julie.

"Julie, let me explain," Steve started, but stopped when Julie pushed him.

"You are a jerk, Steve. I knew you were lying to me and I can't believe that you would touch her while you're **dating** me!"

"Julie, I didn't mean to…it just kind of happened."

"Oh that's a great excuse. Well you know what else just kind of happened? This." Julie took off Steve's ring and dropped it.

"What the hell, Julie?"

"Don't you 'what the hell, Julie' me! We are through! Absolutely done!" Steve truly didn't want to believe that Julie was breaking up with him, but he supposed it was entirely his fault.

"You don't mean that. Come on, just relax for a minute and-"

"I don't want to relax! And I do mean it! I don't deal with god damn cheaters!"

"Please, Julie. I'm sorry! I'll never do this to you again just…I didn't mean to and I…I…I love you!" Steve had never in his life one: begged a girl to take him back or two: told a girl he loved her. He wasn't even sure if he really loved Julie, but he wasn't about to let her break up with him. No, Steve Randle did not get dumped.

"You what?" Julie was in awe. She loved Steve, but she wasn't sure if he loved her back, until that moment of course.

"You heard me the first time."

"Do you really love me, Steve?"

"Uh, yeah."

"I love you too." Steve was a bit scared at this point. Sure, it might not have meant anything when he said it, but now that Julie had said it, it meant a lot more.

He picked up his ring off the ground, took Julie's hand, and slid it back onto her finger. He looked at Julie for approval of this and she smiled, letting him know that she would be his girl again.

If only things could stay this great forever…then wouldn't Julie and Steve's lives just be fantastic?


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: S E Hinton owns all the characters in the Outsiders

Two Weeks After The Evie Incident (Two Days Before The Dance)

"Excuse me, ma'am, but is there a Steven Randle here?" a police officer questioned Steve's English teacher.

"Why, yes there is, officer. Is there a problem?" she replied.

"Well we just need to ask him a few questions." The teacher nodded and pointed out Steve, who was trying to hide behind his book. He had a feeling he knew what this was about and it could cause some issues.

"Come with me, son," the officer directed. Steve grabbed his bookbag and followed the officer out of the classroom.

"What's goin' on?" Steve asked.

"You're being arrested for the possesion of stolen property."

"Whoa, how do you know it was me?"

"We've checked your car and-"

"You checked my car? What'd you do, break in?" Steve practically yelled at the man.

"Yes, because we have a search warrant and we discovered the hubcaps that you stole from a Mr. Derrick Minch."

"Dammit! How long am I gonna be in for?"

"Well it seems like you'll only be doing about three days." Steve wanted to smack himself; the dance was in two days and he wasn't going to be able to make it.

"I can't man, you don't understand. I gotta take my girl to the dance or she ain't ever gonna forgive me."

"Should of thought of that before you went and stole that young man's hubcaps." Steve was planning on getting back at Derrick for this. He couldn't believe he'd been stupid enough to call the cops. The officer cuffed Steve's wrists and took him out to the police car that was waiting by his own. The officer shoved Steve into the back of the car and slammed the door.

* * *

><p>Julie got out of her last class of the day and looked around worriedly for Steve. She'd heard some rumors just before that class about Steve getting hauled out of class by the cops. She spotted Two-Bit walking towards the door so she ran after him.<p>

"Two-Bit, wait!" she called. He turned and gave her a smile.

"Well hey there, Miss Julie."

"Do you know what happened to Steve?" He gave her a weak shrug that said he didn't know, even though he did. He didn't want to have to be the one to tell her that she was going to the dance all alone though.

"Well can you give me a ride to the DX?" she asked.

"'Course I can." They both walked to Two-Bit's car and got in. On the way there, Julie kept glancing at Two-Bit to see a stressed look on his face. She didn't know what that was about, so she asked.

"Something wrong, Two-Bit?"

"Huh? Wrong? Nah, nothin's wrong."

"Oh, okay."

When they got to the DX, Two-Bit and Julie walked in. Soda and Two-Bit shared a look that confused Julie a whole lot, but she didn't have time to ask them about it so she went to get changed. She was still really curious and a bit worried about what happened to Steve.

* * *

><p>"Sodapop, is it true?" Two-Bit asked Soda.<p>

"You mean about Steve gettin' hauled in?" Two-Bit nodded so he answered, "Sure is. He called me 'bout an hour ago and said they were keepin' him there for three days."

"What'd he do? 'Cause a buncha rumors goin' 'round."

"Get this; he stole that Derrick guy's hubcaps," Soda half whispered to him.

"Shoot! Julie's gonna be pissed off at him," Two-Bit let out a low whistle, "Poor Stevie there just can't get a break, can he?"

"Hey Two-Bit, man, you find out what happened to Randle?" a guy from school, whom Two-Bit had been talking to about Steve, walked up into the DX.

"Yeah, got hauled in for steelin' some hubcaps," he answered.

"What?" Julie gasped. Just as she was coming out of the bathroom she heard what this other boy said to Two-Bit.

"Oh Julie...Uh," Two-Bit wasn't sure what to say because he really didn't want to have to tell Julie about this.

"Steve stole Derrick's hubcaps and somehow the cops found out. They hauled him in about an hour ago. Oh and he said they're keepin' him for about three days," Soda responded for Two-Bit.

"What? Are you kidding me?"

"No...sorry. I wish I was."

"And you! You weren't even goin' to tell me about it, were you?" she looked pointedly at Two-Bit.

"Well, I didn't wanna be the one who told you about the dance!" Two-Bit almost yelled. It was more like a defensive cry. He looked down and played with his fingers and Julie leaned against the counter.

"The dance? Oh my gosh! The dance!" Julie realized now that Steve wouldn't be able to take her to the dance. This was a big dance though and she'd already bought a dress and shoes.

"Don't worry, Julie. You don't have to go to the dance..." Soda trailed off.

"But I already bought a dress and shoes! Dammit, Steve!"

"I think we should probably go," Two-Bit suggested to the other guy as he pushed him out the door.

"I'm gonna kill him," Julie stated, "First, he cheats on me with that god damn Evie, now he's gone and got himself arrested!"

"Steve's never told you about all the other times has he?" Soda questioned.

"Other times?"

"Yeah...he's kind of got a bit of a history with stealin' hubcaps..." Julie couldn't believe this! Her boyfriend, whom she was supposed to trust and love, had a history of being a thief? She knew he was a greaser and wasn't the best kind of guy, but she was trying to avoid criminals and somehow she was dating one.

"This is just great...well you know what? I'm still going to the dance."

"Good for you, Jules. Go stag," Soda grinned. He was trying his hardest to be supportive of Julie's choice.

"Oh, I won't be going stag," she informed him, "I'm getting myself another god damn date."

"But...Steve's your boyfriend..."

"I didn't say I was going to be kissing this date or anything. I just don't wanna go stag." Julie knew who she wanted to go to the dance with now and she just hoped he didn't already have a date.

"Okay..." Soda sighed. He knew how it felt to be cheated on and he had a bad feeling Julie was doing this to get back at Steve.

* * *

><p><span>The Next Day At School (1 Day Before The Dance)<span>

"Derrick!" Julie called after him as she spotted him walking toward the doors for lunch. He turned and waited for her.

"Julie, you're looking very pretty today," he noted. It wasn't a lie. He did think she looked pretty, but he also thought her butt looked good in her dark blue skirt; he just wasn't going to say that.

"Aw, well thank you...I heard about what Steve did to your car."

"Look, Julie, I didn't call the cops. Actually my dad called them when he saw that my hubcaps were missing. He asked me who I thought it might be and I gave him a few names. Randle just happened to be one of them," Derrick explained.

"You don't have to explain. I can't believe he did that. It's like he's never gonna learn how to not piss me off," Julie sighed in frustration.

"Trouble with the boyfriend?"

"Just a little. But now it's even worse because he's not gonna be able to take me to the dance," Julie tried to casually throw in the topic of the dance to see if Derrick had a date or not.

"Now that is a real shame," he remarked, "A girl like you shouldn't have to miss a dance because her boyfriend got himself hauled in."

"You're right. But I don't know where I'm gonna find a date on such late notice," she looked down to the floor. She just wished Derrick would tell her already if he had a date or not.

"Well I think you just found one," he smiled. Julie looked up, eyes bright, and a smirk lightly playing on her lips.

"Really? A guy like you doesn't have a date yet?"

"Nah, all these girls are too pretty for me," he said, with a shameful expression on his face.

"That is not true, Derrick! You are such a sweet guy and I would be happy to go to the dance with you."

"Really?"

"Of course," she beamed.

"Then, I'll pick ya up around seven?" he inquired.

"Sounds good to me. Here's my address," she told him. She ripped out a piece of paper from her notepad and pulled out a pen. She wrote her address down and handed it to Derrick, along with her number on it.

"I'll be sure to call you," he gave her wink and continued walking out the door as he had planned to do in the first place.

Two-Bit had watched and heard the whole exchange between Derrick and Julie go on. He knew what Julie was doing, even if she didn't know it herself. It was a shame no one gave Two-Bit the credit he was owed for being one bright guy. What was he supposed to do though? He wasn't going to run down to the station to tell Steve about Derrick and Julie.

Julie walked back to her locker so she could put her books away and she saw Tammy walk into the girl's bathroom. She quickly ran down the hallway to talk to her.

"Hey, girl," Tammy greeted Julie. She was looking at herself in the mirror, touching up all her make-up.

"Hey, um...Tam I kinda need some advice..."

"Sure thing, sweetie. What's up?"

"Well I'm going to the dance with Derrick Minch..." Julie leaned her back against the wall and looked at Tammy. She was afraid of how she would react.

"Derrick? But I thought you and Steve were like..." she trailed off, not knowing quite how to respond to the news.

"Steve and I are still **dating**, but I'm not gonna let one of his stupid mistakes ruin my night...It's not like cheating right?"

"Well good for you! I think it's okay. Besides Steve cheated on you with Evie, it's only fair that you get him back."

"This isn't about revenge, Tammy. It's about having fun while my boyfriend is stuck down at the police station."

Tammy raised her eyebrows at Julie's excuse and smirked. Julie realized that maybe going to the dance with Derrick wasn't such a good idea, but she'd already told him that she would go with. She just couldn't all of the sudden back out.

"All I'm saying, is that I think it's good you're going with Derrick. Just be careful with the guy."

"Thanks, I will. Well I guess I should go meet Two-Bit in the parking lot for lunch or he might just leave without me."

"You're really gettin' around aren't you," Tammy joked. She stopped laughing with she saw Julie dissapointed expression, "Sorry, I forgot you were ya know...the V word.." Julie rolled her eyes and waved goodbye to her friend. She left the bathroom and walked out to the parking lot to see Two-Bit, Johnny, and Ponyboy all smoking a cigarrete and leaning against Two-Bit's car. _Why am I friends with these guys?,_ she thought to herself.

"It's about time you show up," Two-Bit laughed. Julie noticed there was something odd in his laughter, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

"Sorry, I just had some people to talk to," she responded.

"Oh yeah, I saw you with Minch," Two-Bit noted.

"Yeah...he's um, taking me to the dance." When she saw the boys' confused expressions she quickly explained, "But just as friends. I'm still **dating**Steve and all."

They all nodded as if they understood what she meant, but truth be told, they didn't. They were all thinking the same thing, _How could she do this to Steve?_ But of course, once this thought crossed their minds they thought about how Steve had cheated on Julie and she still took him back.

* * *

><p><span>Night Of The Dance (Saturday...Sorry I'm moving this along so fast, but there's not much to do with the other parts before the dance)<span>

"Mom how do I look?" Julie asked her mother who was reading the newspaper at the kitchen table. Julie had on her light pink off the shoulder dress. At the waist it was dark pink band and then it flowed out to about her knees. She wore her light pink pumps with thin white bows on the front of them. She twirled around so her mother could see her dress from all angles.

"You look very nice, Julie. Just don't do that twirling with this boy unless you want him to see everything under that dress," she chuckled.

"Good point...Um, mom, you don't think I'm like cheating on Steve by going to the dance with Derrick, right?"

"Well to be honest, I think it could taken that way. But like I said before, you shouldn't even be with Steve anymore." Julie looked down at her mother's judgement. After Julie told her mom about what had happened with Steve and Evie, her mother assumed that they had broken up. When Julie told her that they were still together, she wasn't very accepting of it.

"I told you; I love Steve and as long as he doesn't do it again, I'm willing to forgive and forget."

"Okay, just-" her mother was cut off by the doorbell.

Julie fixed her curled hair and checked her make-up once last time before opening the door. Standing before her was Derrick dressed in dark wash jeans that were slightly beat up, a white dress shirt, and holding one red rose.

"Wow, Julie...you look really pretty," he complemented her.

"Thanks," she blushed.

"This is for you," he said handing the rose to her, "I couldn't afford a dozen, but I thought this one was pretty, like you. And it's the thought that counts, right?" Julie couldn't but feel like Derrick was the sweetest guy she'd ever met. He even gave Soda a run for his money.

"It's beautiful. Thank you."

"You must be Derrick," Julie's mother came up behind Julie.

"Yeah. Nice to meet ya."

"You too. Now I want to have a good time you two...But not too good a time," her mother laughed her sweet motherly laugh, "And be back by eleven."

"Okay, mama. Love you," she called over her shoulder as Derrick lead her to his T-Bird. She didn't realize that she was holding his hand until he opened the door for her, "Thanks."

They got in and it was a quiet ride there, but not in an awkward way, Julie thought. She was a bit scared because she'd heard that Socs didn't take to kindly to greasers showing up the dances around there, but she wanted to dance.

"You like to dance?" Derrick asked as he opened the door for her.

"Yes, I do actually." They walked into the dance where the music was already playing and couples were already dancing.

"Let's do some dancin' then," he said. The band was good and they even played Elvis' Jailhouse Rock. Julie grinned; she loved this song. Julie thought Derrick was a pretty good dancer and he thought the same of her. She was having fun dancing to all the wild and fun songs until they played The Temptations' song My Girl. It was slower and Julie didn't know if she felt comfortable dancing with Derrick to a slow song. Before she knew it, she was swaying along to it while Derrick sang the lyrics.

"Well I guess you'd say, what can make me feel this way? My girl," Julie laughed at Derrick's off-key singing. He pulled her closer and she knew what was coming even before it happened. Just as the last note was played his warm lips touched her red stained lips. She went along with it until a teacher came by and yelled at them for being too close and inappropriate.

"Oh my god...I can't believe I just kissed you," Julie said worriedly.

"Gee, thanks, Julie. Don't I feel special," Derrick frowned.

"No, I didn't mean it like that...I just don't wanna do this to Steve."

"But he cheated on you."

"That doesn't mean I can cheat on him! I'm sorry, Derrick, this was a mistake. Can you just take me home?"

"I guess so." Derrick lead her back to his car and Julie could feel the tears in her eyes. She didn't know what to do because she didn't mind the fact that she had just kissed a guy who wasn't her boyfriend. She sat in the passenger seat and Derrick hesitated to start the car.

Just as he turned to face her she put her hand on his cheek and kissed him again. He let his hand drop to her knee and slowly moved it up under her dress. She deepened the kiss and they moved to the backseat. He pulled her dress off of her and took his pants off of him. Next they both slid off their underwear and continued to kiss. Julie didn't know why, but she felt like she was ready to go all the way, even if it wasn't with Steve.

Afterwards, Julie didn't feel pain, she just felt numb. It still hadn't registered with her just exactly what she'd just done. But she was starting to understand what everyone was saying about her getting back at Steve for cheating. It felt right and she believed he deserved it.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: S E Hinton owns all the characters in the Outsiders

A/N: GreaserGirlie owns this chapter and the ones before it but I helped her with the idea of how Steve finds out about Julie and Derrick.

Julie laid on her bed and cried her eyes out. _What did I do?_ she thought to herself. After she'd had sex with Derrick, he took her home and didn't say a word to her as she got out. So she had cheated on her boyfriend with a guy who didn't even care. Steve would be getting out the next day and she knew she was going to have to talk to him, except it was her day off so she'd just have to walk down to the DX. After thinking about this, Julie decided she would just talk to him on Monday at school. Her mother had suspected something was wrong, but Julie told her she was just really tired and she wanted to go to sleep. So there sat Julie, alone in her room, crying and no longer a virgin. She didn't feel like talking to her mother so she let herself fall asleep.

* * *

><p><span>Sunday (The next day)<span>

Soda was working his usual shift when he heard a familiar voice call, "Hey pretty boy, miss me?" Steve walked into the DX, uniform and all, wearing his trademark smirk.

"Hey there, Stevie!" Soda exclaimed. Things got a little boring in the few days that he'd been alone, besides Julie, at the DX.

"So man, tell me...how mad was Julie?" Steve questioned.

"Depends on what you're talkin' about. Do you mean about you gettin' hauled in or not takin' her to the dance?"

"Both I guess."

"Well for one, she didn't know about your lovely record of stealin' hubcaps so she wasn't too happy about that. But the dance thing...she seemed a little more upset about that."

"Great," Steve replied sarcastically, running a hand throw his greased back hair, "I know how bad she wanted to go to that dance. I guess I'll be payin' hell for her not gettin' to go."

"Steve...she...went to the dance."

"She went alone? Guess I'll be payin' even more hell."

Soda shifted uncomfortably and ran a hand through his hair, "Man, she didn't go by herself. She went with Minch..."

"What?" Steve was pissed now. How could Julie go with Minch!

"Yeah, from what Two-Bit told me, Julie went to the dance with him, but it was just as friends."

"Friends my ass! Damn asshole took my girl to the dance!" Steve yelled. Just as he said this Tammy strolled up with a few other girls.

"Steve, you out already?" she asked.

"Yeah." He was pacing back and forth and looked like he was about to destroy something.

"So I take it you heard." Steve gave her a questioning look and she continued, "Ya know, about Julie and Derrick, in the back of Derrick's car?"

Steve could feel the anger rushing through him. Julie had told him that she wasn't ready yet and that she wanted to wait to have sex. Now she was doing it with Derrick? _No, she wouldn't...Minch is a liar,_ he thought to himself. Steve knew that the next time he saw Derrick, he would be beating the living hell out of him.

"You mean she had sex with that asshole?" Steve said through clenched teeth.

"Oh, you didn't know...Oh my god, you cannot tell Julie I told you. I mean, she wasn't even the one to tell me. Derrick is bragging about it to everyone." Steve slammed his fist on the wall. It hurt like hell to him, but he shook it off and walked back into the garage. Tammy and the other girls stayed and chatted with Soda for a while, after Steve's meltdown. Soda ended up asking Tammy out and she said yes. Steve had heard the whole conversation and apparently Tammy had heard from another girl who heard from some rumors Derrick was spreading that Julie had sex with Derrick in the back of his car after the dance and it was all Julie's idea. Steve didn't believe this...

* * *

><p><span>Monday Morning At School<span>

Julie walked into school and she noticed that everytime she passed a few girls, they were whispering. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and continued walking to her locker. She was afraid that they were talking about what she'd done with Derrick, but how would they know about it?

"So Julie, I hear you're the new town whore," a girl from Julie's biology class giggled. She was middle class, but considered herself a Soc. She had a few of her friends with her and they were all Socs too.

"Excuse me?" Julie was scared now. She didn't want to be known as a whore, especially since she'd only done it once.

"Well, we all heard about your string of crazy nights with that Derrick Minch."

"Um, there's no string of crazy nights, Darla."

"You know I thought maybe you would fit in with us, but seeing how you don't mind sleeping with guys for fun, I've changed my mind," she maintained a sunny personality, but the words stung Julie. With that, the girl and her friends turned around and left. Julie couldn't believe it, Derrick must have told people that they'd done it more than once! She began maing her way down the hall to look for Derrick, but when she found him she was shocked.

"She's my god damn girlfriend!" Steve yelled as he took another swing at Derrick. Julie was surprised to see Steve fighting Derrick and she was also worried because it was obvious he knew about what they'd done. Steve's hit to the nose forced Derrick to hit his head on the lockers behind him. He slid to the ground, but stood up once again.

"Well guess what? She's a whore!" Derrick shouted back. Julie was beyond the point of shame now. People would forever label her as a whore all because of the lies Derrick was spreading. Steve slammed him back against the lockers and brought his fist down on Derrick's face one more time, spilling blood from his nose. A crowd had formed around this fight and through it, Julie broke.

"Steve, stop it, please," she begged, "You're really gonna hurt him!" Even if Derrick had been spreading lies about her, she didn't want to see Steve nearly kill him.

"Julie, stay out of this. I mean it," his eyes were blazing and he was actually scaring Julie. He turned back to Derrick and punched him in the stomach a few times before letting him slide to the ground. When Derrick just sat there, Steve stormed past the crowd and down the hallway.

"Steve, wait!" Julie ran after him and grabbed his arm.

"He deserved it Julie. He said you...you had sex with him," he said in a hushed whisper. When Julie didn't say anything and continued to look at the floor he knew something wasn't right, "Don't tell me you really did."

"Steve...I..."

"Damn it, Julie. What the hell is the matter with you?"

"What's the matter with me? If I do remember correctly, I took your cheating ass back after you slept with Evie, numerous times!" she spat.

"That was different. I said I was sorry."

"And I thought you deserved to be cheated on!" Julie wished she could take the words back, but it was too late for that. Everything was out in the open now and Steve was angrier than ever.

"I don't deserve to be cheated on. You do. You wouldn't even put out!" That was it for Julie. Those were the words she knew were coming and now she knew what she had to do.

"Fine, Steve. Maybe you should just go back to your slutty ex-girlfriend. 'Cause I'm done with you and your bull shit!" She took off his ring and threw down the hallway that was crowded with greaser kids who stuck around to watch.

"Come on, this is gonna be just like last time..I know you don't wanna do this," Steve said. He honestly believe it too.

"No, it's not like last time. I mean it, we're through." She brushed past him and made her way to the bathroom so she could be angry without anyone seeing. Steve stood there, too angry to realize what he'd just caused.

Julie looked at herself in the mirror and a thought crossed her mind, if people wanted to think she was a whore than she'd give them what they wanted.

* * *

><p>It had been a few weeks since Julie had broken up with Steve and Julie was doing just fine. Steve on the other hand was a mess. He didn't even respond to Evie when she called him and asked to come over. He watched Julie and noticed how much she'd changed since they'd broken up. She was wearing more make-up and much shorter skirts. Even her shirts came down pretty low. Steve didn't know why she was doing this, but it killed him. It killed him to watch her everyday in the garage wearing tight skirts and constantly bending over. She didn't even bother to wear her DX shirt anymore. But it's not like the boss was going to do anything about it; Julie used her new found sluttyness to get away with a few extra things.<p>

Julie had become known throughout the whole school as the new greaser girl. It wasn't a title she'd brough upon herself at first, but she was certainly living up to it. She went to Bucks more and slept with a few guys. She didn't go to school every day and she mouthed off to teachers more often. The fact was that she was tired of people writing her off as some country bumpkin, she wanted to prove that she could be whatever the hell she pleased. She even used all this to practically torture Steve.

"Soda?" Julie called as she leaned on her elbows on the hood of a car she was supposed to be working on letting her shirt hang as low as it would go.

"Yeah?" Soda came running in, noticing Julie's shirt and quickly bringing himself back to what Julie was saying.

"Would you be a doll and get me a drink?" she batted her eyelashes.

"Uh, yeah of course." He ran back into the store and grabbed a soda and brought it back to Julie. She pulled herself off the hood of the car and walked over to Soda.

"Thanks, sweetie." She snapped her gum loud and got Steve's attention. He looked up at her and she smirked, turning back around to go work on a car. He watched her closely as her hips swished back and forth in the black mini-skirt she was wearing. She decided to wear a white tube top with it and Steve couldn't help but think about how good she looked.

"Dammit!" Steve yelled as he felt something extremely hot against his hand. Julie whipped around to look at the injured Steve, "God damn." He hadn't been watching where he was putting his hands in the hood of a car and ended up burning himself.

Julie laughed and he glared at her so she spoke, "Don't give me dirty looks 'cause you're an idiot."

"It's your fault," he mumbled, thinking she wouldn't hear him.

"How is it my fault?" she put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Have you looked in a mirror lately?" he snapped, rubbing his hand.

"Are you saying you have a problem with my appearance?" he continued to glare at her, "Well I'm just so sorry, Steve. I'll jump right on that."

"You're a real bitch you know that?"

"I know." She turned back to the car and he grumbled more things about her being a bitch and a whore.

Julie felt a little pang of something, but she didn't know what it was. She thought it was just her hate for Steve boiling up, but deep down she knew it wasn't that at all. It was the pain she felt when Steve called her a bitch and when he said the things about her being a whore under his breath. She fought back the tears that she wasn't going to let fall, but when she realized that they were coming, she ran to the bathroom. She locked the door and began to sob. _What has happened to me?_ she kept asking herself.

"Steve, what did you say to her?" Soda questioned.

"I told her she was a bitch, why?"

"She's in the bathroom, cryin' her eyes out." Steve knew she wasn't crying because he'd said something mean to her, but he didn't care anymore. She obviously was over him so why couldn't he just get over her?


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: S E Hinton owns all the characters in the Outsiders

Julie sat in the bathroom for about a half an hour before a soft knocking came from the door.

"Go away," Julie ordered.

"Julie, it's me, Soda. Just open up," Soda said. Julie wiped the rest of the tears from her face and opened the door letting Soda in. She closed the door after he walked in because she didn't want anyone, especially Steve, to see her like that. Soda enveloped Julie is a tight hug and she hugged him back.

"Now you wanna tell me what's wrong, sweet thang?" Soda asked her. He'd created the nickname 'sweet thang' after he discovered her major sweet tooth.

"Everything. Everything is wrong. Look at me!"

"Well when you do this," he said, taking a wet paper towel and wiping her make-up off, "You look just fine."

"It doesn't matter what I do, I'm still the slutty girl that everyone knows I am."

"No, you're not, Julie! You're the cute, funny, sweet, crazy, girl that I met here at the DX two months ago."

"You really think all that stuff about me, Soda?"

"'Course I do!" he laughed.

"If only Steve thought that," she sighed.

"You still love him?"

"If I tell you, you can't tell him I said this," Soda gave her an encouraging nod, "Yeah, I still love him. It just...hurts so much."

"Listen to me, Julie. I know Steve hurt you. Trust me, I know what it feels like to get cheated on. Which is why I can't play for either of your sides. You both kinda screwed up and so it'll take both of you to fix it."

"But he doesn't wanna fix it. I think we're just both better off without each other," she let a few tears out.

"No, you're not! Are you kidding me right now? Damn, Julie! Steve loves you, okay?" Julie was taken back a bit by Soda's sudden outburst, but he just couldn't hold it in any longer.

"No, he doesn't! Why are you even trying to help?" Julie was genuinely confused because last time she checked, Soda wasn't really for their relationship.

"Because...because this is all my fault. I'm the reason Evie came back. I called her..." he admitted. Soda was still ashamed of what he'd done, but it was high time he confessed to Julie.

"What? Why would you do that, Soda!" Julie couldn't believe the sweet, loving, Soda she knew had purposely messed with her relationship with Steve.

"'Cause I was jealous. I'm sorry. I really am. I wasn't thinking right...I was thinking...that you were such a pretty girl and I just kinda lost it."

"Soda..." Julie quietly called. He looked up from his hands at her and she leaned over to kiss him. He kissed back before being ripped apart from Julie.

"What the hell do you think you're doin'?" Steve yelled at him. He had gone to check on Soda and when he opened the door he found him kissing Julie. He wasn't jealous, he just hated to see Julie with another guy. Or that was his reasoning at least.

"Steve, man. I don't know. I...I just..uh."

"I kissed him," Julie clarified, then she realized what she'd just done, "Oh god...I'm such a damn slut!"

"Yeah you are," Steve smirked.

"God, will you just shut up! I never asked you for your god damn opinion, Steve!"

"Well I don't really care! You're a whore and you know it. Maybe you should just keep your legs shut and I won't say anything!" BAM! That's what Julie heard in her head when Soda punched Steve. Steve was surprised Soda would start a fight with him, but he wasn't about to take that from him.

"Steve...I don't know what I-" Crack! That was the sound Soda's jaw made when Steve punched it. Soda stumbled back, but didn't fall; he was tougher than he looked. He instead shoved Steve back against the wall and Steve took this as a chance to get a punch in. Julie just stood there in shock as the two boys roughed each other up. When they were finished, Steve stalked off out of the DX without another word, while Soda slid to the ground, holding his jaw.

"Soda, are you okay?" Julie asked frantically. He looked pretty bad and it was probably because he didn't fight back as hard as Steve did, for fear he would actually hurt Steve.

"Y-yeah. I'm...I'm...I'll be fine," he slowly responded. He tried shaking his head to get his blurred vision to go away, but it just ended up making his head hurt more.

"Here, let me help you." Julie offered her hand and Soda took it. She tried to pull him up, but had to use both of her hands to get him up. He stumbled a little and Julie tried to stablize him, but she tripped and leaned back into the counter. Soda then stumbled forward and landed with his hands on both sides of Julie. He turned a bright shade of red and stuttered with his words.

"Hmmm I see the smooth Sodapop Curtis isn't so smooth all the time," Julie let out a soft laugh.

"I, uh, I'm, uh sorry," he bit back a nervous laugh; something he and his brothers had in common.

"It's alright there, sweetie. Just let me get you cleaned up." She took his hand and sat him down in a chair while she got the first aid kit. She looked for it on the top shelf, but didn't see it so she leaned down to the bottom shelf. Soda couldn't help but look at Julie's butt while she did this. "Soda! Were you lookin' at my butt?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, no," he threw her a smile, hoping she wouldn't get mad at him. She rolled her eyes, but gave him a smile. She leaned down to clean off his bloody nose and as soon as she did, Soda found himself looking down Julie's shirt.

"Shit, Soda. I guess I'll be goin' to change now, before you lose your head," Julie laughed.

"Sorry. It's just...the kiss and all. Got me thinkin' other things, ya know?"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Sorry 'bout that kiss. I must have been out of my mind to kiss you again." Soda looked at the ground and wiped the rest of his nose off with his shirt. "Wait, I didn't mean it like that, Soda. I just...I don't really know."

"No, I get it. You just like to string me along, right?" Soda huffed as he walked into the garage to pretend to work on some cars. _Great, I'm screwing up everything,_ Julie silently cursed herself.

* * *

><p>After Steve stormed out of the DX he walked until he didn't feel like walking anymore. By the time he realized where he was, it was much too late. The four guys had surrounded him and were giving him glares all around.<p>

"Hey there, greaser. You goin' somewhere?" the biggest one asked. Steve looked around for any kind of weapon; a broken bottle, a piece of wood, anything hard, but didn't see anything.

"Yeah, so if you could get outta my way, asshole," Steve remarked.

"I don't think so," the big one responded. He shoved Steve into the ally behind them and punched him hard in the nose. Two of the other ones held Steve against the wall, while the last one held a switch blade up to his neck.

"What do you say we cut him up a little, Rob?" the one holding the switch blade asked.

"I say that sounds like a pretty good idea," the big one, Rob, answered. They all laughed as the guy cut him right under his chin, causing Steve to kick him in the stomach. The two guys holding him shoved him down to the ground and Rob kicked him in the side a few times. Steve considered calling for help, but he had too much pride for that.

"Get the hell...off of me," Steve tried to yell, but his side hurt too damn much.

"I don't think so," one of them snickered. They all joined in on the kicking and one bent down to punch him in the face a few more times. Steve groaned and rolled onto his stomach, but wouldn't get up. The Socs just left him lying in the ally, half conscious and wishing he hadn't yelled at Julie. He slowly closed him eyes and blacked out.

* * *

><p>"Soda!" Two-Bit ran into the DX calling. Julie looked up from the counter she'd somehow gotten stuck working at, "Julie, darlin', where's Soda?"<p>

"Garage. Wait, what's wrong?" she questioned. It was unusual to see Two-Bit being so serious about something.

"I found Steve in some alley on the other side of town. He's pretty banged up." Julie felt her heart sink at the mention of Steve getting beat up.

"Oh my god..." Two-Bit nodded before running into the garage to get Soda. Soda ran out of the DX with Two-Bit and neither of them bothered to grab Julie on the way out. She took it upon herself to follow them. She ran after them and started walking next to Two-Bit.

"Julie, you can't come with us," Two-Bit informed her.

"Steve's hurt so I'm gonna come with you," she told them without thinking about what she was really saying.

"Since when do you care about Steve? Last time I checked, you two were as cold as ice with each other."

"So? He may be my ex-boyfriend, but that doesn't mean I really stopped caring."

"Whatever you say, darlin'." Two-Bit through his arm around her shoulder as Soda tried not to pay attention to Julie.

When they got to the alley where Steve was, Julie ran over to him first and kneeled down on the ground next to him. Soda and Two-Bit rolled Steve over so he was on his back and Julie ripped part of her already too short, cheap skirt and held it under his chin to stop the bleeding. Soda looked at how much Julie cared about Steve and he felt bad for yelling at her. She'd been so vulnerable and her emotions were mixed up, he was the one who kissed back.

"Let's be careful with how much of that skirt you're rippin' off there, darlin'," Two-Bit joked. Julie ignored him and pushed some of the hair out of Steve's face. He grumbled something about feeling like shit and turned his head to look at Julie.

"Julie?" he coughed out.

"Yeah, Steve, I'm right here."

"Why are you here? You shouldn't be on this side of town, you're gonna get hurt."

"Don't worry about me. You're the one we need to worry about right now." She looked to Soda and Two-bit who were watching curiously. They helped Steve up and he winced as Soda put his arm around Steve's waist to support him. Julie quickly followed them out of the alley and hoped that they didn't run into any Socs on their way back.

When they got back to the DX, Brian was standing outside with a pissed off look on his face. It didn't even soften when he saw what state Steve was in.

"Where the hell have you been? I came out of my office to see many angry customers who were complaining about no one being there to service them!" Brian yelled.

"We had to help him!" Julie shouted back, pointing to Steve.

"Doesn't seem like you're doin' much, missy!"

"Well...I...I had to see if he was alright."

"No excuses. You shoulda been in there doin' your job. We lost some money due to your stupid actions. You're fired!"

"Fired? No! Please, you don't understand!" Julie tried to beg, but Brian was already walking back inside. Soda put a hand on Julie's shoulder and she turned to lay her head on his shoulder. Two-Bit already had Steve standing on his own, but he was still looking like a mess.

"Hey, Julie, you think you can help me out over here? I ain't gotta damn clue what I'm doin'," Two-Bit called. Julie slowly walked over to Steve and tried to avoid making eye contact. She grabbed the wet towel Two-Bit had and wiped off the dirt and blood Steve had on his face. He stood completely still with a stone cold look on his face. He hated that Julie was seeing him like this; weak and beat up. She announced that she was done and that she was leaving. She grabbed her stuff and said goodbye as she left to go home.

* * *

><p><span>Two Days After The Incident (Friday)<span>

Julie walked into her house and out of the rain and saw that her mom was again, out for the night. She didn't know what her mom did when she went out, but she was planning on sticking around to find out.

A few hours later, Julie's mom came home giggling and with a man kissing her neck. Julie stood up from the couch and glared the man who was holding her mother.

"Julie! You're awake...I thought...I thought you weren't going to be home tonight," her mother gasped.

"Yeah, I am awake. Who the hell is this?" Julie pointed to the man.

"Oh...this is...Roger, my boyfriend."

Julie felt herself start to freak out. She was going to lose it if she didn't get out of the house soon. She never expected her mom to come home with a man who wasn't her father. It really tore her up inside to think about that kind of thing; she needed to get out.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: S E Hinton owns all the characters in the Outsiders

A/N: This is the last chapter that GreaserGirlie wrote all the chapters from here on will be mine but any of hers ocs are still hers. I may add some of mine in later but at this point I don't think I will tell me what you think in a review.

* * *

><p>Julie ripped open the front door and ran out of her house. She stood for a minute on the sidewalk out front because she didn't know where to go, but her mother calling her propelled her forward. She was soaking wet and in only a pair or short shorts and a baggy T-shirt. She ran until she couldn't see her house anymore and then she saw whose house her feet had brought her to. She walked up the driveway and to the front door and knocked.<p>

Steve answered the door, in just his boxers with a bandage still around his ribs, "Julie? What the hell do...What are you doin' out in the rain?"

"I-I don't know. Somethin' happened and I got upset. I didn't know where else to go," she admitted. She was shivering a little because of how cold the rain was so Steve pulled her inside.

"Come on," he ordered, leading her up the stairs.

"Here's a shirt. Just wear that, okay?" he said, throwing a T-shirt to her. She turned around, on account of her not wearing a bra, and peeled off her wet clothes to replace them with the dry shirt. Steve watched as she took a seat on his bed and crossed her legs. He of course had noticed that she wasn't wearing a bra and now with her legs crossed, he could see a bit of her blue underwear. It was taking all he had not to kiss her soft, lip-glossed, lips and run his hands along her smooth thighs and up to her stomach. He was really risking it all by just sitting next to her.

"Why were you running?" he asked her.

"My mom...brought home a guy and...I just kinda lost it," she answered.

"Julie, I know it's hard and all to deal with losin' a parent, but you don't need to run away everytime someone reminds you of him."

"I wasn't running away because she made me think of him. I ran because it's like my mom is trying to replace him," she sighed.

"Still ain't no reason to run," he grumbled.

"Please, Steve, stop. I didn't come here for you to yell at me some more."

"Sorry."

"How are you feeling?" she asked about his ribs. Darry had decided they were just bruised so he wouldn't be in too much pain.

"Better. Doesn't hurt everytime I move anymore at least." Julie put her hand to his ribs and he watched her curiously. She ran her hand over the bandage and Steve put his hand on hers and slowly intertwined their fingers. Julie brought her eyes up to Steve's and they sat there for a minute just staring. Just staring at the hurt in each other's eyes. They both had messed the relationship up and now they were both willing to try again, even if they didn't know it yet. Steve gradually leaned toward Julie and she did the same with him. They both stopped as their lips barely touched, but Julie could feel Steve's warm breath on her lips. He licked his lips, ready for the kiss that he had been longing for and Julie took this invitation. She pressed her lips on his and he licked her bottom lip, begging for entry. She quickly let his tongue slide into her mouth and dance with her own. Steve instinctly ran his fingers up Julie's thigh and under the the shirt she was wearing. She laid down on the bed as Steve kept his lips attached to hers and laid on top of her.

Julie could feel his hands moving under her shirt and she just wished he'd get to what he wanted already. Steve felt his hands touch Julie's breasts and he thought he was going to lose his cool. Julie let her hands drift down to the top of Steve's boxers as she tugged at them. Steve quickly slipped Julie's underwear off, followed by his own. Next, he removed the shirt from her body and continued to kiss her neck, making his way down to the swell of her breasts before they began...

* * *

><p>Julie laid next to Steve, under the sheets breathing hard. She'd never imagined being with Steve would be that great, but Steve knew being with Julie would be just as amazing as it was. They both were on their backs and Steve rolled over on his side, that luckily wasn't his bad side, and began kissing Julie's neck again. She moaned softly and cursed herself for having such a weak spot when it came to Steve kissing her neck. She turned on her side also, grabbed the back of his neck, and kissed him harder than she'd ever kissed him before. After a little making out, they went at it for a second time. Once they were done, Julie laid her head down on Steve's chest and he stroked her hair.<p>

"That was...fun," Julie laughed softly as she was out of breath.

"Sure was. I'm...glad you came..over," Steve replied, trying to catch his breath as well.

"Me too."

"Julie, I don't know if you know it or not, but I still love you."

"To tell you the truth, I still love you too," she smiled, even though he couldn't see her face, "Do you know what time it is?"

"'Bout midnight, why?"

"Oh shit. My mom is probably worried sick...or maybe she's just to busy with her new boyfriend to even care."

"Just stay with me tonight, Jules," Steve advised.

"Okay," she sighed happily into his chest and closed her eyes. She fell asleep to the rhythmic pattern of Steve's breathing.

* * *

><p>"Stevie," a voice whispered in Steve's ear, "Stevie, baby, wake up." Steve sleepily opened his eyes to see Julie only in a towel.<p>

"Well hey there, I don't really like you in that towel."

"Oh really? And what would you like to see me in?" She questioned with a devious smile.

"Nothin' at all," he laughed as he pulled her on top of him, ripping the towel off in the process.

"Steve!" she squealed, "Wait, do you have something?"

"Yeah of course I do," he answered, but then something made him stop dead in his tracks, "Julie...I don't think we used anything last night."

"What do you mean? Oh my god...Steve if you get me pregnant, I will kill you!"

"Whoa whoa whoa, there is no need to be talkin' 'bout gettin' pregnant. We'll just have to wait and see what happens."

"I ain't waitin' around to see if I'm pregnant, Steve! I'm gonna go to the doctor's and then I'll call you." She threw her clothes on from the previous night and she was glad to see that they had dried. She ran out of Steve's house and all the way home. When she opened the door, her mother wrapped her arms around her tightly and she let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh Julie, sweetie, I thought something had happened to you when you didn't come home! I was so worried."

"Mom, calm down. I spent the night at...Steve's." Julie said his name barely above a whisper for fear of what her mother would do.

"Julie...what did you do with Steve?"

"We, we had sex, mom. Don't freak out okay? I'm telling you because I want you to know that...I might be...there might be a chance of me being..." No matter what Julie tried, she just couldn't get the words out.

"Please don't tell me you think you're pregnant," her mother begged. She gasped when Julie didn't say anything to protest against that.

"I'm going to the doctor's," Julie said quietly.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, I kinda just wanna do this on my own." Her mother nodded and took a seat in the kitchen thinking over her daughter's possible pregnancy.

Steve was freaking out. If Julie got pregnant because of him...He didn't even want to think about something like that. No, she was not pregnant. He needed to get that idea out of his head and get to work. He took a quick shower and found his work clothes. He greased back his hair and drove to the DX.

"Hey, Steve, how ya feelin'?" Soda asked as he walked into the store part of the DX.

"Pretty good," Steve faked a smile.

"You're lyin'." _Shit,_ Steve thought to himself, _I'm just gonna tell him._

"Yeah, I am...Julie came over last night and we uh, well ya know."

"Good for you guys. I take it that means you're back together?" Soda questioned. He was happy for Steve and Julie, but it still felt like when he first found out about them; he didn't exactly like it. It hurt him a little bit that Julie would kiss him like it was no big deal and then sleep with Steve a few days after.

"I ain't too sure about that. But I think we are."

"So what's wrong?"

"Well...I guess it was just a heat of the moment thing and we didn't really...we kinda forgot to use any protection."

"Man, you better hope she don't get pregnant."

"I know. She's goin' to the doctor's some time today and he's gonna tell her if she's pregnant or not."

"I'm sure everything will be fine. She's probably not pregnant, just because you guys did it once."

"Twice," Steve corrected. Soda gave him a pat on the back and told him good luck.

* * *

><p>"Hello?" Tammy answered the phone.<p>

"Hey, Tam! It's Julie. Can I come over?" Julie asked.

"Sure, sure. Is somethin' wrong?"

"I'll explain it when I get there."

Julie got changed into her pink mini skirt and a white button up blouse and left her house. She walked all the way over to Tammy's house and knocked loudly on the door.

Tammy opened it a few seconds later, "Hey! What's so important you needed to come over for?"

"Can I come in?" Julie asked.

"Yeah, yeah, sure."

Julie stepped inside and looked at the floor, "Have you ever thought you were...pregnant?"

"Yeah a few times. Why? Do you think you are?"

"Well I don't exactly think I am. But there's a chance I could be."

"Who's would it be?"

"Probably Steve's."

"But you and Steve haven't..."

"As of last night, we have. Twice," she informed Tammy.

"Oh my gosh, Julie!"

"I know...my doctor's appointment is at two. Will you come with me?" Julie practically begged. She didn't want her mom to come with her because she thought it would just be weird so she asked Tammy instead.

"Of course, honey!" Tammy laughed. She'd been through this a million and one times and she really didn't think Julie was pregnant. But she would let Julie freak out anyways; her day was boring.

On the way to doctor's Julie couldn't help but try to figure out why Steve was so stupid. She really sat there in Tammy's car and thought about all the reasons that Steve could be so stupid. One: his dad was just as dumb, two: he hung out with a few stupid people, and three: he's just stupid. Why wouldn't he just use a condom? Was it that hard to remember? Idiot...But then Julie thought about how in love she was with this so called idiot and well that kind of made her an idiot too.

"Hello, name?" the woman at the front desk asked.

"Julie Davidson."

"The doctor will be right with you." Five minutes later the doctor walked out and called Julie. She went into the office and explained her situation.

"Well, it's probably a good thing you came in here so early. Although, it will delay the results process by a few days. We'll just need to take a few blood tests," the doctor informed her.

"Okay!" Julie answered a little too anxiously. The nurse came in and took some of Julie's blood and Tammy watched with a sick look on her face; she hated the sight of blood, especially when it was being taken out of someone.

"That was so gross!" Tammy stuck her tongue out to display her digust.

"Don't be such a baby, Tam, it was just a little blood."

"Whatever you say..."

One Week Later

_Ring._

_Ring._

_Ring._

"Hello?" Julie answered, "Oh hi doctor! Did the results come back? They did? Well? Oh my god..."


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: S E Hinton owns all the characters from the outsiders and GreaserGirlie owns all the ocs at this point.

A/N: So here is the new chapter of Love Smells like gasoline, I am going to try to keep the story in third person point of view as possible but I usually write first. There will not be a ton of dialogue in this chapter but Tammy and Julie is what the story will focus on from now on, Julie is still the main character but Tammy is going to be a minor plot inside of the main one.

"Okay thank you." Julie said into the phone and then hung up. She just as quickly picked it back up and dialed the DX's number.

"Hello," Steve answered in a bored tone.

"Steve, it's Julie."

"Hey Jules, did the test results come back?" He questioned, and Julie could hear the anxiety in his voice.

"Yeah, they did."

"And?"

"Well," Julie started but was interrupted by the noise in the background of Soda yelling for Steve's help with something.

"Shit, Jules, I'll come see you tonight alright some Socs down here just jumped Soda, I gotta go help him, bye."

Julie pressed the phone closer to her ear and could here the makings of a fight being cut off by the dial tone.

Julie slammed the phone back into the holder and let out a frustrated sigh. She ran upstairs and threw on a black mini skirt and a blue button-up shirt and a pair of black high heels and quickly got dressed. She ran downstairs and out the door.

She walked after she escaped from the stuffiness if the house. She had no idea where she was planning to go after this but she didn't care. She would just let her feet lead her wherever.

Tammy took a deep breath and then took another look at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a purple mini skirt and a white low cut blouse that showed most of her cleavage. The way she was dressed left very little to the imagination. She reached down and tightened the strap of her purple high heels. She walked into her bathroom so she could put on her makeup. She outlined her eyes in dark black, add some purple eye shadow, put on some blush, and then completed it dark black mascara and bright red makeup. She smiled at herself in the mirror, checking her teeth for lipstick, finding none she walked out the door and started to head towards the DX.

Julie found herself being pulled to the DX. She let her feet lead her there and when she got there she was shocked at what she saw.

Tammy walked to the DX,her head held high, smiling at the greasers who's gazes were all over her, ignoring the Socials calling her a whore. When she got to the DX she found Julie with a shocked look on her face. Tammy pushed past her to see what was going on and wasn't shocked but startled at what she saw.

Steve growled at the large Soc who had a switchblade held out in front of him. Steve was trying to distract him while Soda jumped on his back to get the knife away from him. But the Socials attention was taken over to Steve's left side. Steve look to his left and found Julie and Tammy standing there. "Guys run now, get out of here!" Steve yelled at them.

"Guys run, get out of here now!" Julie heard Steve yell but her fear had her frozen in place as the Soc came closer to her and was about to make a grab for her, dropping the blade, when Soda jumped on his back and Steve grabbed the blade and threw it to Tammy. Steve and Soda both started to punch the Soc in the face and back, when Julie was tugged out of the DX by a surprisingly calm Tammy.

Steve hit the Soc in the face one last time, before he ran off, Steve then ran over to where Soda was laying from being thrown off of the Soc's back. Steve bent down and looked at him, glad that nothing seemed to be seriously wrong with him. Soda smiled up at him, that reckless grin on his face and Steve laughed despite himself.

Julie ripped her arm from Tammy's grasp. "What the hell Tammy, what if one of them gets hurt?" she questioned her.

"They won't, they both know how to hold there own in a fight, especially Steve, and he won't let anything happen to Soda either." Tammy explained.

Soda grinned up at his best friend, glad that he could make him laugh. Soda tried to stand only to be pushed back down by Steve. "Stay laying down, I'm goin' to get the first-ad kit." Steve ordered him. After Steve left Soda sat up and looked around, there was some blood on the garage floor, whether it was greaser or Soc Soda didn't know. He stood up and walked into the shop to sit on the stool that was kept behind the counter.

Steve came back into the garage and found Sodapop gone. "Goddamnit Sodapop." Steve growled under his breath.

A/N Sorry for the short chapter I wanted to get something posted and School has started up again so chapters will be posted at a slower rate, and don't kill me for not finding out whether or not Julie was pregnant you will find out in the next two chapters I promise. And if you would check out my other stories that would be great and I am deciding if I am going to make a youtube trailer for this story or not.


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